WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ- Four Hawks scored in double figures as the Monmouth men's basketball team opened the 2016-17 campaign with a 78-65 over Drexel at the OceanFirst Bank Center. Micah Seaborn (Fort Worth, TX/Prime Prep Academy) led the way with 17 points, while Chris Brady (Greenlawn, NY/Harborfields) totaled 14 points and eight rebounds. Monmouth moves to 1-0 and Drexel falls to 0-1 on the season.
Monmouth built a lead of as many as 17 points in the first half, doing so on a Je'lon Hornbeak (Arlington, TX/Grace Prep/Oklahoma) layup at 1:37 before taking a 15-point advantage into the break. A strong stretch from sophomore Pierre Sarr (Dakar, Senegal/Roselle Catholic) led to an 18-point second half lead, which ballooned to 21 on an Austin Tilghman (Wilmington, DE/Archbishop Carroll) three-point play at 12:41. Drexel closed it to 13 in the final seconds but the Hawks never trailed after the 18:17 mark of the opening half.
NOTES AND QUOTES
- "We've been building towards this for years," said head coach King Rice. "Our guys are unselfish, they believe in what we're doing, and we have to continue to move the ball. We can put other guys in double figures."
-"We've been on Chris Brady hard and Diago [Quinn] is right on his heels, and he comes out tonight and plays like a senior." –head coach King Rice
-"I don't need to take crazy shots when I'm surrounded by guys like Je'lon and Micah and Collin, who had an off-shooting night but he won't do that all the time." –senior guard Justin Robinson
-Monmouth is now 4-2 in season openers under King Rice.
-Monmouth has now beaten Drexel in back-to-back-seasons.
-Freshman Sam Ibiezugbe made his MU debut, blocking a shot on his first defensive possession.
-Justin Robinson has now scored in double figures in 53 of his last 59 games.
-MU has won 12 of 14 games at home.
-Tonight marked the first game at the newly named OceanFirst Bank Center.
NUMBERS CRUNCH
-13 Hawks saw action in the game, with 11 playing at least nine minutes.
-No Hawk saw more than 30 minutes of action (Justin Robinson).
-Mustapha Traore and Louie Pillari each scored their first points in a Monmouth uniform.
-Sophomore Pierre Sarr tied a career-high with four rebounds.
-Four Hawks went into double-digits: Seaborn (17), Robinson (15), Brady (14) and Hornbeak (13).
-Brady led the Hawks with eight rebounds.
-Monmouth outshot Drexel 40.8% to 31.7% from the floor.
-MU outscored Drexel in the paint 40-16.
UP NEXT
-Monmouth heads to South Carolina on Tuesday night to take on the Gamecocks at 6:30 p.m.
