BETHLEHEM, PA – Monmouth outrebounded Lehigh 53-24 and totaled 47 second-half points to pick up its second win of the season and first on the road Tuesday at Stabler Arena. Three Hawks worked into double figures, and MU got 30 of 80 points from freshmen in the eight-point win.

Monmouth widened the second-half lead to as many as 15 on a Melik Martin (York, PA/York Catholic) finish at the rim with 2:04 to go, and Lehigh was never closer than four after Pat Andree hit a three early in the period. The Blue and White used separate runs of 6-0 and 5-0 to keep Lehigh outside of striking distance, with the final margin trimmed to eight in the final seconds.

Lehigh jumped to a 19-11 lead, but Monmouth responded with a 12-0 run including three triples and a Diago Quinn (New York, NY/Lake Forest Academy) tip-slam at the rim. Lehigh bounced back to tie the game for the final time at 3:46 of the opening half before MU ended the half up five, thanks to consecutive long balls from freshman Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist).

NOTES AND QUOTES
"We have a lot of kids. I thought Lehigh played extremely well and their plan was a very good one. Our defense locked in and we started keeping guys in front of us." –Head Coach King Rice

"As a team we took a turn in the second half and I think we were feeding more off each other. Coach told us we had more assists in this game compared to other games so we're starting to share the ball more so that's really what got me good looks." –junior center Diago Quinn

-Monmouth is now 2-0 against the Patriot League.
-Ray Salnave worked into double digits for the first time in his career.
-A Monmouth freshman has scored in double figures in every game to this point.
-Monmouth freshmen contributed 30 of MU's 80 points.
-Diago Quinn tied for the team high in scoring with 15 and was Monmouth's leading rebounder for the first time this year.
-13 of Quinn's 15 points came in the second half.
-Monmouth outrebounded Lehigh 53-24, the most rebounds for MU in a game since 57 on 1/22/17 vs. Fairfield.
-The plus-29 rebounding margin is the most in the King Rice era.
-Micah Seaborn also netted 15, his third game of the year to open up with double figures.
-Austin Tilghman dished out a career-high eight assists.
-Melik Martin hit multiple field goals for the first time, finishing with a career-best eight points.
-The game marked Monmouth's first at Lehigh since November 23, 2009 and first game against the Mountain Hawks since November 19, 2010.
-Monmouth started the same five consecutively for the first time this season.
-Outside of Micah Seaborn, Monmouth's other four starters totaled 12 career starts entering the night, with seven of those starts came this season.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth held Lehigh to 27.6% from three, including 16.7% in the opening half.
-MU was a 16-7 winner in second-chance points.
-The Hawks topped the Mountain Hawks in bench points, 34-29.
-Monmouth was plus-23 on the defensive glass and only allowed Lehigh six offensive boards, one in the first half.
-The Blue and White dished out a season-high 16 assists.
-George Papas netted a career-best eight points and two three-pointers.
-Lehigh was led by Jordan Cohen's 18 points off the bench.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth is on the road Sunday at ACC member Virginia, with tip set for 1:00 p.m. in Charlottesville, VA.