WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Behind three double-digit performances and three players with eight rebounds, Monmouth University men's basketball led for the final 33:05 en route to a dominating win over Fairfield University, 74-57 on Thursday. The Hawks have won three in a row, and move to 4-2 in the MAAC and 5-14 overall while Fairfield drops to 5-13, 2-4 in league play.

Fairfield trimmed the MU lead to four in the early stages of the second half, but Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) hit threes on three of five possessions, totaling 2:09 between the trio to extend the lead back to 10. The Hawks gradually pulled away, with Nick Rutherford (Indianapolis, IN/Allen/Florida Atlantic) drilling a step back, corner triple with 8:54 to play to extend the lead back into double digits. MU led by as many as 20 before winning 74-57.

The Hawks jumped out to a 6-0 lead on consecutive triples, and after Fairfield got the lead at 12-11, never led again as MU built their lead slowly down the first-half stretch, going up by as many as eight. A 7-2 run to close out the period included a Ray Salnave (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) three before MU took a seven-point edge into the locker room.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"I'm just happy that tonight my kids played the defense that they played, they've been really sticking together and I think we showed when we stay together and we really guard people we have a chance to be a solid team." – Head Coach King Rice

"I just try to come in and give energy to my team as much as I can and any way that I can. I don't really care about the stats, I just come in and try to play defense and get the ball to my teammates and play as hard as I can. This is three in a row and it feels good, but we just have to lock in and get ready for Iona on Sunday." – Guard Nick Rutherford

-Monmouth has won three in a row, its longest winning streak since closing out the 2017 regular season  with 16 in a row and opening the MAAC Tournament with a win to post the program's longest ever win streak of 17.
-Monmouth leads the series with Fairfield since joining the MAAC, 9-3.
-The Hawks are the second MAAC team this season to reach four league wins.
-MU has held its opponent to 60 points or less in three straight games, and four of the last five.
-Ray Salnave scored in double figures for the eighth time in 10 games, leading MU with 17 points.
-Deion Hammond netted 16 points, and has scored at least nine points in every MAAC game this season.
-Mustapha Traore grabbed eight rebounds for the sixth time this year, and third game in a row.
-Nick Rutherford pulled in eight rebounds for the second game in a row.
-Samuel Chaput is averaging 7.4 points per game in MAAC play, scoring seven points tonight.
-The Hawks tied a season-high in steals with 10.
-Diago Quinn netted 15 points, his sixth time in seven games scoring in double figures.
-Dave Calloway and Mike James each grabbed their first career rebounds.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth outshot Fairfield 43.4% to 35.7%.
-Each team turned it over 16 times.
-Monmouth outrebounded Fairfield 41-36.
-The Hawks topped Fairfield's bench 19-15.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth hosts Iona on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN3 and the Watch ESPN app.