WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth Men's Basketball opened the 2018-19 season on Tuesday evening, and were led by 21 points from Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School), the second 20+ point game of the guard's career. Lehigh came out on top at the OceanFirst Bank Center by an 85-61 count.

Monmouth was within five in the early stages of the second half after Hammond knocked in a triple, but an 18-5 Lehigh run widened their lead. LU was led by Pat Andree's 31 points in the win, topping four Mountain Hawks in double digits.

MU hit their first three shots, including a Hammond triple, to build a 7-3 early lead but eight consecutive points from Lehigh's Pat Andree put the visitors in front. The lead grew to as large as 10 in the first half but MU got it within five at 1:46 when Louie Pillari (Tinton Falls, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) got to the rim. Lehigh took a six-point lead into the locker room, 36-30.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"Very tough night for us tonight, we just couldn't guard them at all and I didn't think we played with enough intensity on the defensive end. I thought we'd be more settled after the half but coming out in the 2^nd we just didn't have it. The way Pat Andree got started made them feel comfortable and they really put it together on us." – Head Coach King Rice

"On the defensive end it's all about effort. I've been here a long time now and our team plays extra hard on defense. I was expecting our defense to be able to hold us down. Sometimes you have to learn like this. They're great kids and they really want to be good." – King Rice

-Nick Rutherford, Nikkei Rutty and Samuel Chaput scored their first career points in a Monmouth uniform.
-Monmouth is now 3-6 all time against Lehigh.
-Deion Hammond registered 20+ points for the second time in his career.
-Ray Salnave dished out a career-high six assists.
-Monmouth fell to 12-23 all-time on opening night as a Division I program.
-King Rice is now 5-3 on opening night and 6-2 in home openers.
-MU's starting lineup of Nick Rutherford, Deion Hammond, Ray Salnave, Marcus McClary and Mustapha Traore is the first time that combination has been used.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth shot 33.9% from the floor, compared to 49.2% for Lehigh.
-Hammond topped Monmouth in minutes played with over 25.
-The Hawks shot 79.2% from the foul line (19-24).
-Mustapha Traore led MU with five rebounds.
-Ray Salnave led Monmouth with four steals.
-Each team fouled 23 times.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth takes on Colgate on Friday night on the road at 7:00 p.m.