HAMDEN, CT – Monmouth cut a late Quinnipiac lead to as little as one, but were unable to take the lead and fell at the TD Bank Sports Center in the MAAC opener on Thursday night, 78-76. Micah Seaborn (Fort Worth, TX/Prime Prep Academy) led three Hawks in double figures with 14 points.

After the teams traded leads six times in the early stages of the second half, Jacob Rigoni rattled home a three that put Quinnipiac up at 10:17. QU built that lead to eight at 5:17, only to see the Hawks trim it to two just 1:50 later. The Bobcats eventually widened that lead back to seven before Monmouth got a wing triple from Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) to make it 76-75 with eight seconds to go. QU would make two foul shots, and Louie Pillari's (Tinton Falls, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) three for the tie was off the mark, allowing the home team to hang on and win the first MAAC game of the season.

A back-and-forth first half saw 87 combined points and the teams shoot over 50% from the field, with QU taking a one-point lead to the locker room. MU led by as many as five when Ray Salnave (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) got to the rim at 8:32, but the Bobcats came back to take their own six-point lead when Andrew Robinson hit a long three. In the closing minute of the period, Hammond netted a long ball to put MU up before Cameron Young scored with under five seconds to go, putting QU ahead going to the locker room.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"They outplayed us today, and that's what happens. They did a good job tonight. Give them credit for playing well tonight." –King Rice

"We have a lot of work that we have to do, we have talent but talent isn't good if everyone isn't on the same page. We need to get on the same page." –King Rice

-Micah Seaborn has now gone into double digits in all but two games he has played in this year.
-Austin Tilghman worked into double digits for the fifth time this season.
-Deion Hammond has gotten to double figures in five consecutive games and eight times overall.
-Tilghman dished out seven assists for the fourth time this year.
-Tilghman led MU in rebounding for the third game in a row, fourth time in five games and sixth time overall this season.
-11 of the 12 Hawks to see action scored in the game.
-Monmouth is now 2-3 in MAAC openers.
-Monmouth's lineup of Tilghman, Seaborn, Hammond, Traore and Quinn started for the second game this season (12/12 at Princeton).
-George Papas missed his first career game with an injury.
-Monmouth opened MAAC play at Quinnipiac for the second consecutive season.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth outshot Quinnipiac 48.3% to 47.2%.
-The Hawks won the battle of the paint 34-16.
-Monmouth was outscored by just one point in each half.
-Cameron Young led all scorers with 20 points.
-MU outran QU on the fast break 13-5.
-The Hawks outrebounded Quinnipiac 35-32.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth heads to Saint Peter's on New Year's Eve for a 12:00 p.m. matchup with the Peacocks.