SYRACUSE, NY- Monmouth's men's basketball team was defeated Friday night by No. 18 Syracuse, 71-50 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY. Justin Robinson (Lake Katrine, NY/Kingston) netted 11 points to lead the Blue and White while Andrew White III was the game-high scorer for Syracuse with 18.
The Hawks tied the game at 20 on a Micah Seaborn (Fort Worth, TX/Prime Prep Academy) triple at 6:23, but the home team closed the half on a 17-9 run to take a 37-29 lead into the locker room. Syracuse immediately widened the lead to 14 in the early stages of the second half before MU cut in and got it back to 10 at 43-33 on a pair of Josh James (Greenburgh, NY/Archbishop Stepinac) foul shots. Syracuse went up 56-37 after a 13-3 run en route to the 71-50 victory.
NOTES AND QUOTES
-"I have all the respect in the world for Coach Boeheim," said head coach King Rice. "It was such an honor to be able to coach against him. To say I got to coach against Coach Boeheim in the Dome is probably one of my biggest thrills as a head coach."
-"We've played a lot of high-major teams and been all over the world and our program is trending in a great direction," said Rice. "I feel like I haven't done a good enough job getting our team to come together. We have to be together for our team to be good."
-"You can't think too far ahead or look too far in the past," said senior guard Justin Robinson. "I just need to be a better leader and make sure everyone comes ready."
-"I think we didn't have the same intensity we had in the first half," said senior guard Josh James regarding Monmouth's defensive play. "People know what we're capable of, we just have to move onto Tuesday."
-Syracuse improves to 2-0 on the season, while the Hawks drop to 1-2.
-Freshman Sam Ibiezugbe converted his first career points, converting layups on consecutive first-half possessions and taking a charge on the defensive end on the next trip.
-Monmouth is now 0-2 all-time against Syracuse.
-King Rice started a lineup of Robinson, James, Hornbeak, Stewart and Brady for the first time ever.
-Micah Seaborn came off the bench for the first time in his career.
-MU drops to below .500 for the first time since January 15, 2015.
-Chris Brady played in his 104th career game, moving him to 28th all-time.
-Justin Robinson started his 97th career game, most among active players.
-The Hawks have now dropped consecutive games for the first time since February 2015.
NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth trailed at the half 37-29, and are now 0-2 when trailing at the break.
-Mustapha Traore set a career-best with four points on 2-3 shooting.
-13 Hawks saw action and 10 got in the scoring column.
-MU held Syracuse to 30% from deep in the second half.
-Josh James led Monmouth with six rebounds.
-Micah Seaborn snagged three steals to lead MU.
-Monmouth is now 2-20 all-time against ACC members.
-MU won the points in the paint battle 32-16.
-White III was the game-high scorer with 18, all in the first half.
UP NEXT
Monmouth returns home for its final game before Thanksgiving, a Tuesday night matchup with Cornell on November 22. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m. on ESPN3 and the Watch ESPN app.
