WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth went on runs of 17-0 and 7-0 in the second half to grab its first MAAC win of the season over Manhattan Friday night, 77-66. Diago Quinn (New York, NY/Lake Forest Academy) scored a career-high 19 points and Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist) scored 17 on three triples as the Hawks outscored the Jaspers in the second half.

Down two with 15:00 remaining, Monmouth went on a 17-0 run that spanned over four minutes, with four Hawks contributing to the run. Manhattan trimmed the deficit to as little as nine down the stretch, but MU got a dagger triple from Hammond at 4:06, forcing a Manhattan timeout. The visitors got the lead down to 10 in the final minute, but no closer as MU picked up its first MAAC victory.

After a back-and-forth early portion of the half, Monmouth battled back from down seven to cut it to 30-29 when Sarr hit a falling-away baseline jumper. Sarr then sliced in front in the closing seconds of the period to steal and lay one in, making it a three-point MU lead before Zavier Turner hit from half-court at the buzzer to tie things at 33 at the break.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"I'm very proud of my kids. Manhattan is a very tough team to play because you know they're going to be very physical. They press harder than most teams. They do it the whole game, and they do it on makes and misses so this was the first time I thought our kids slowed down enough to play at the pace we want to play at to be effective against their press and their zone." – King Rice
"The biggest thing for me is to go out and help my team the best way I can. We thought we had a mismatch so I just tried to use my physique to help my team out." – Diago Quinn

-Diago Quinn scored 19 points, a career-high and his sixth career game in double digits.
-Austin Tilghman posted his second career game with double-digit assists, finishing with 10.
-Pierre Sarr posted season-highs with nine points and nine rebounds.
-Deion Hammond posted his ninth game of his freshman campaign in double figures, finishing with 17 points.
-Three Hawks (Salnave, Tilghman, Sarr) finished a point shy of double digits.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-MU outscored Manhattan in the paint 42-10.
-Monmouth shutout the Jaspers on the fast break, 16-0.
-Tilghman finished with nine points, 10 assists, five steals and four rebounds.
-Rich Williams netted a game-high 20 points.
-Monmouth outshot Manhattan 56.5% to 40%.
-MU outrebounded the Jaspers 32-27.
-Monmouth picks up its first MAAC win of the season, while Manhattan drops to 2-1.
-Micah Seaborn missed his fourth game of the season.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth is in Buffalo, NY next weekend to take on Niagara on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.