ALBANY, NY– Monmouth University's Men's Basketball team (27-7, 17-3 MAAC) was edged by Iona College (22-10, 16-4 MAAC) in the 2016 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship game on Monday night, 79-76 at the Times Union Center.
"My kids gave everything they possibly could and we fell a little bit short," said head coach King Rice.
Iona retook the lead on four straight points from Much when Collin Stewart's (Glenville, NY/Mekeel Christian Academy) layup cut the IC lead to 77-74 with 50 ticks left. Micah Seaborn (Fort Worth, TX/Prime Prep Academy) drew a charge on the ensuing Iona possession and a pair of Deon Jones (Wilmington, DE/Sanford School [Towson]) free throws cut the Gael lead to 77-76 with 20 seconds remaining. Iona hit a pair of free throws to go up three with 17 seconds remaining and the Hawks were unable to get a potential game-tying shot off before time ran out.
Monmouth led for 15 minutes of the second half, including by as many as seven on a Je'lon Hornbeak (Arlington, TX/Grace Prep [Oklahoma]) triple at 13:20 to go up 48-41.
MU concludes the regular season/MAAC Tournament with 27 wins, a program single-season record and the second most in the nation as of Monday. The Hawks secured the program's first regular season title since 2005 and made its first conference title game since 2006. The Hawks defeated five high-major programs and snagged four top-100 RPI wins, along with leading the country in road wins with 13 and road/neutral site victories with 17.
The Hawks fell behind early in the first half with Iona's Isaiah Williams hitting the first two Gael baskets from downtown to give his team an 8-4 lead 5:14 into the game. Monmouth closed to within one on (16-15) on a Hornbeak three pointer but Iona hit two quick transition buckets to take a 20-15 lead with 7:09 left in the first. Hornbeak hit back to back threes, including one on transition to knot the game up at 23-23 with 3:30 left in the first half. Monmouth ended the half by hitting their last seven shots to take a 34-30 lead into halftime.
Turnovers hurt the Hawks in the early going of the second half but solid defensive effort and work on the glass gave the Blue & White a 39-38 lead with 15:57 showing on the scoreboard. The teams went back and forth over the next few minutes before English hit his third three of the game to tie the game up 41-41. Monmouth answered with seven unanswered points, including Hornbeak's fourth three pointer to go ahead 48-41 with 13:20 to play. The Gaels cut it to within two before Hornbeak drove and kicked out to Tilghman who fired from the left corner for his first three of the night.
Monmouth's lead grew to as much as six with 8:58 before Iona's Williams was fouled on a made three pointer and converted the free throw to cut the Hawk lead to 58-56. Iona tied the game up at 60 with 8:14 remaining. Iona took its first lead since the 3:08 mark of the first half on a Deyshonee Much three pointer with 4:46 remaining but Josh James' drive and layup tied the game up at 67-67 with 4:06 left.
Hornbeak netted a career-high 20 points on a perfect 7-for-7 shooting, while Justin Robinson (Lake Katrine, NY/Kingston) bested Monmouth's single-season scoring record with 14 points to get to 664 on the year. Seaborn also worked into doubles with 10. MU outscored Iona off the bench 33-10 as the Gaels put four into double-digits, let by English with 19. Jordan Washington registered a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Robinson and Hornbeak earned All-MAAC Tournament honors.
Monmouth's regular season title guarantees them an NIT bid, with the Hawks postseason future still to be determined.
