MYRTLE BEACH, SC – Monmouth Basketball led for portions of the opening half and were within two in the second half before falling to RV/13 West Virginia in the opener of the 2018 Myrtle Beach Invitational on Thursday night. Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) finished with 10 points, his fourth straight double-digit effort, in the 71-53 loss.

Mustapha Traore (Philadelphia, PA/The Phelps School) scored consecutive second-half buckets, including a slam in transition, to trim the WVU lead to two with 15:01 remaining. However, West Virginia put together a 9-0 run to take an 11-point edge, an advantage they would hold the remainder of the night.

MU went on a 7-0 run in the early stages to take a 20-18 lead, capped by a Hammond triple after Louie Pillari (Tinton Falls, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) take in transition. The lead grew to as many as four when George Papas (Jersey City, NJ/Union Catholic) knocked home a triple at 10:10. West Virginia, which attempted 25 first-half free throws, led by five going to the locker room, 36-31.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"I'm a big Coach Huggins fan. I've been to his fantasy camp, he mentors me, he helps me be a better coach and I think he's one of the better coaches in the country. He runs a program as well as anybody and for 20 minutes we had them playing. I feel bad for my kids because their bodies are so big and strong and when you're dealing with West Virginia, they have one of the best strength training programs in college basketball and Coach goes that way to wear you down and I think my kids got a little tired with the physicality of the game. But we battled West Virginia and I'm proud of that part. I'm not one of these guys that's into this 'Oh, we played them tough,' I'm trying to win the game. But when you're going against a Hall of Famer that's been doing it as long as him, you've got to take small victories. Being down six after we fouled them so many times in the first half to give them 25 free throws and only be down six, I think our kids did great tonight." – Head Coach King Rice
-Deion Hammond scored in double figures for the fourth straight time to open the season.
-Dave Calloway Jr. scored his first career points, drilling a late corner triple.
-Monmouth drops its first game at the Myrtle Beach Invitational.
-Monmouth trailed by just five at the half, their lowest margin when trailing after 20 this season.
-Nick Rutherford dished out a season-high seven assists, the most by a Hawk this year.
-Rutherford also grabbed five steals, the most for a Hawk this season.
-Monmouth is now 0-2 all time against West Virginia.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-There were 48 total fouls called in the game, 29 on Monmouth.
-West Virginia shot 37 free throws to Monmouth's 18.
-MU limited WVU to 26.1% shooting in the game.
-The Blue and White were 50% from the three-point line in the second half.
-MU led the game on the fast break, 21-12.
-Esa Ahmad led all scorers with 16 points for the Mountaineers.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth plays Valparaiso on the second day of the Myrtle Beach Invitational tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN3.