DALLAS, Texas – Monmouth received a 13-point, eight-rebound night from Deon Jones (Wilmington, Del./Sanford School), but the Hawks fell at SMU 63-51 in Moody Coliseum on Sunday night. Monmouth, which registered 14 assists on its 18 field goals, falls to 2-4 on the year, while the Mustangs, who opened the season ranked No. 22 in the nation, improve to 4-3 overall.
“I just want to thank Coach [Larry] Brown for the opportunity to bring our team out to SMU and compete against his team,” stated head coach King Rice. “I think they have a team that is improving tremendously in short periods of time. I thought our kids really competed hard tonight, but I think their length really bothered us. That was the first team that we could not run all of our plays against and that threw our timing off and made it tough on us. But I am proud of the kids and we've gotten a lot better on this trip and now we are excited to get started with MAAC play.”
Monmouth opened with a 5-2 lead following a three-pointer from Jones and two Zac Tillman (Yeadon, Pa./Shipley School) free throws, but 11 straight points from Nic Moore put SMU ahead 11-8 with 13:27 left. Andrew Nicholas (Wrightsville, Pa./Eastern York) connected on a three-pointer from the corner to tie the game at 13-13 with 11:55 showing, while Josh James (Greenburgh, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) registered another corner trey to pull the Hawks within 20-19 with 8:03 left, before SMU closed out the half on a 12-2 run over the final 7:45 to take a 32-21 lead at the intermission.
Despite a Jones three-point play and Brice Kofane's (Yaounde, Cameroon/Miller School/Providence) slam off an inbounds pass, SMU pushed its lead to 43-26 with 14:19 left to play and increased its advantage to 47-28 with 11:39 remaining after consecutive Cannen Cunningham baskets.
Justin Robinson's (Lake Katrine, N.Y./Kingston) four-point play at 10:29 got Monmouth within 49-34, which ignited an 8-0 spurt as the Hawks pulled within 49-38 with 8:05 on the clock, as Collin Stewart (Glenville, N.Y./Mekeel Christian Academy) capped the run with an alley-oop dunk.
A James three-pointer with 5:41 showing allowed the Hawks to claw within 54-43 and two Stewart foul shots had MU within 56-45 with 4:20 left, but SMU held Monmouth off for the 12-point victory.
Kofane added eight points, six rebounds and two steals, while James notched eight points as well. Robinson registered six points and four assists, while Nicholas and Stewart also chipped in six points each.
The Hawks connected on 40.0% from the field and 7-of-20 from three-point range, while SMU, which got a game-high 23 points from Moore, hit 45.1% (23-51) and five treys.
Monmouth returns to action on Thursday, December 4 when the Hawks open Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play at Marist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. at 7:00 p.m. in McCann Arena.
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