WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth University Men's Basketball used a stern defensive effort and 16 points from Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) to sweep the regular season MAAC series from Siena College, winning 66-55 on Thursday. MU has now allowed just 57.2 points per game at home in MAAC play, holding four of five opponents under 60 to move to 5-0 in those contests. The Blue and White improve to 7-16 and 6-4 in the MAAC, while the Saints are now 9-12, 4-4 in the league.

Monmouth's run continued into the second half, one that would be capped at 21-0. The Hawks held Siena off the board into the second half for 2:29, a run of 10:13 without the Saints scoring in the game. The MU lead grew as large as eight when Louie Pillari (Tinton Falls, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) knocked home a step-through triple, but Siena answered shortly after with a 10-2 run to tie the game on Evan Fisher's layup with 8:30 to go. The Hawks regained a slim lead until a second-chance opportunity for Hammond off Mustapha Traore's (Philadelphia, PA/Phelps School) offensive board went down from deep, giving the Hawks a six-point edge. The Hawks closed the game on an 8-0 run to secure the home win.

The Hawks fell behind 16-5 and by as many as 14 with 7:44 to go on Jalen Pickett's three, but would keep the Saints off the board after that triple for the remainder of the half and close the period on a 15-0 run. Hammond and George Papas (Jersey City, NJ/Gould Academy) knocked in consecutive triples, and Diago Quinn (New York, NY/Lake Forest Academy) scored six points in the stretch, including a pair of free throws after being fouled on a loose ball with 0.2 seconds left in the half to put the Hawks on top for the first time. 

NOTES AND QUOTES
"That was a fun college game. I have so much respect for Jamion, we've become friends through being college basketball head coaches. He's an outstanding basketball coach and a better man. This was a fun game, I enjoy playing against them." – Head Coach King Rice

"I'm so happy for my kids because we were shorthanded a little bit tonight and when the game started it looked like we were really missing those guys and then we were able to get going a little bit. It started with our defense, I think our defense got going a lot in the first half just to slow them down and enable us to get back into the game. Deion, Louie and a few guys made some big-time plays down the stretch because that game could have gone either way." – King Rice

"I think the effort was great coming off a bad trip to Buffalo. I didn't really know how everything was going to go but collectively we came out and did our thing and everybody played well." – Guard Deion Hammond

-Monmouth's six league wins are the second most in the MAAC, trailing only Rider's seven.
-MU has held MAAC opponents at home to 57.2 points per game.
-Four of five MAAC teams have been held under 60 points at the OceanFirst Bank Center.
-The Saints went a stretch of 21:40 in the game (12:40 of the 1^st through 11:00 of the 2^nd) without a two-point field goal.
-Monmouth's 63.3% (7-11) from three is the highest percentage of the season and best since 2/8/12 at Fairleigh Dickinson when MU shot 73.3% from deep (11-15).
-The Hawks close the regular season series with Siena at 2-0, holding the Saints to 57.5 points per game in the two contests.
-Deion Hammond scored in double figures for the sixth game in a row, and netted 16 points vs. Siena for the second time this season.
-Diago Quinn scored in double digits for the eighth time this season.
-Louie Pillari worked into double digits for the second time in three games and fifth time this season.
-Nick Rutherford went for eight points and eight rebounds, his fourth eight rebound game of the season.
-Mustapha Traore set a career-high with four assists.
-Rutherford started his first game since November 28 at Kentucky.
-The Hawks have now won 10 of the last 11 against Siena and lead the all-time series 12-4.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth used a 21-0 run between the two halves to build its first lead.
-The Hawks closed the first half on a 15-0 run, including holding Siena off the board for the final 7:44, a stretch that would ultimately reach 10:13.
-MU limited Siena to 36.4% from the field and 30% from three while shooting 47.6% and 63.6% themselves.
-The Hawks outrebounded the Saints 34-28.
-MU topped the Siena bench 20-9.
-Sloan Seymour led Siena with 15 points, while Manny Camper grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for the Saints.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth hosts Rider on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.