WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth's senior class tied the school record for wins by a four-year class on Senior Night, topping first-place Rider on Thursday night 91-77 in the home regular season finale. Micah Seaborn (Fort Worth, TX/Prime Prep Academy) scored a career-high 30 points and MU shot over 57% from downtown in the 14-point win. The Blue and White never trailed in the game, and have now won two games in a row.

MU came out of the locker room and extended the lead to 23 when Austin Tilghman (Wilmington, DE/Archbishop Carroll) hit a three from the wing. MU held Rider at an arms length, leading by at least 17 until the 8:07 mark, when Devine Eke got Rider inside 15 with a dunk. The closest the Broncs would get in the second half was 12, doing so at 5:17 when Jordan Allen launched a long triple. MU responded with the next five points, including Tilghman's second three, and held out for a 14-point victory.

Monmouth jumped to an early 17-3 lead, powered by five points from Melik Martin (York, PA/York Catholic) and a pair of Seaborn triples. The lead ballooned to 17 at 12:36 of the half when Diago Quinn (New York, NY/Lake Forest Academy) dunked one, and after Rider got it to 11, Seaborn hit a tough runner to propel it back to 17. Stevie Jordan's finish at 4:29 got the deficit for Rider down to nine, but MU hit a pair of triples inside the final minute to take an 18-point lead to the locker room.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"Tonight, on Senior Night, I wanted it for these kids so badly for these seniors." – King Rice

"I was feeling good in shootaround and then when I hit my first one I knew this was going to be a good night. I'm just glad that we got it because I know I've never had someone lose on a Senior Night. I always try to make sure the people going out do whatever they can to go out on a good note, no matter how the year went. I just really focused on Austin and Zac and Dan, and of course our team but making sure they went out on the right note." – Micah Seaborn

"Micah is a basketball guy. When his body is healthy, he is one of the top guys if not the top guy in this league. He was freshman of the year as a freshman, all-league as a sophomore, and we had plans for a lot of things for him this year and he's showing you, when healthy, he can do a lot of great things on the court." –King Rice

-Austin Tilghman and Dan Pillari have now won 84 games and are tied for the winningest class in school history.
-Seaborn's 30 points is the most by a Hawk this season, a career-high, and the most points by a Hawk since Justin Robinson got 40 points at Siena on 2/13/17.
-Seaborn's 10 made field goals ties a career-high and ties for the most makes by a Hawk this season, also doing so on December 2 at UConn.
-Seaborn is the first Hawk to his six threes in a game this season.
-Tilghman hit two threes in a game for the second time in his career, and first since his freshman year against Quinnipiac.
-Tilghman dunked for the first time in his collegiate career.
-Monmouth never trailed in the game, the first time all season and first since 2/21/17, one year and one day ago, when MU won at Fairfield 82-62 and never trailed.
-Monmouth has won two games in a row when scoring over 90 points, and are 3-2 in such games this season.
-The Hawks made 32 field goals, second most by the team in a game this year.
-Monmouth shot 57.9% from deep, the second highest percentage from three this season.
-Monmouth's 50 first-half points are the most in a half by a Hawk this season.
-Micah Seaborn's 21 points in the opening half was the most by a Hawk in a period this season.
-Dan Pillari made his first career start, and MU has now started every player on the roster with the exception of one this season.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-MU outshot Rider 55.2% to 45.5%.
-The Hawks outplayed Rider in the paint 38-24.
-MU scored 33 bench points to Rider's 21.
-The Blue and White outrebounded the Broncs 35-29.
-10 Hawks scored in the game.
-MU improves to 7-10 in conference, while Rider falls to 14-3.
-Jordan Allen scored all 18 of his points from three to lead the Broncs.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth wraps up the regular season Saturday afternoon at Fairfield at 1:00 p.m.