ORLANDO, FL – Monmouth University Men's Basketball (2-4) got 19 points from Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) and locked down Kennesaw State University (0-4) to just 11 field goals in a dominating win on the first day of the MAAC-ASUN Challenge, 71-40 on Friday night.

The Hawks extended a big halftime lead by scoring nine of the first 11 points of the second half to lead by 33. The Hawks continued to add to the lead, getting contributions from 10 of 11 players in uniform, and held KSU to 32% shooting and just one made three-pointer in order to cruise to a 31-point victory.

In a 7-6 game, MU went on a 10-0 run with triples from Ray Salnave (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) and Louie Pillari (Tinton Falls, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) to take an 11-point lead. In that stretch, Monmouth limited Kennesaw State to a 6:14 stretch without any points and used a separate 14-0 run to break things open. Hammond netted two triples in 22 seconds and George Papas (Jersey City, NJ/Union Catholic) scored five in a row before the Hawks went to the locker room up by 25.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"I'm super happy for my kids, and we want them to have fun. Basketball's a fun game and today I think our guys truly had fun. They're young guys and if you can make the environment fun, they can thrive in that. Today, we shared the ball, we moved it and he ball moved around to the open guy. We're great shooters when we get open shots." – Head Coach King Rice

-Monmouth's 31-point win is the most by the Hawks since a 42-point win over Fairfield on 1/22/17.
-MU matches a defensive low under King Rice in allowing just 40 points, also done in a win over Canisius on 2/8/15.
-The Hawks have now allowed 21 points or less in a half three times in six games this season.
-17 first-half points is Monmouth's lowest allowed in a half since 3/4/16 in a MAAC quarterfinal game against Rider, where MU allowed 16.
-This marked Monmouth's first time taking on an ASUN team in the King Rice era.
-Deion Hammond's 19 points put him in double figures for the fourth time this season and 45^th time in his career.
-10 of 11 Hawks to play in the game scored.
-The Hawks never trailed and led by as many as 36.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-MU topped Kennesaw in field goal percentage, 42.6% to 23.4%.
-Monmouth allowed just three field goals in the first half.
-16 of Kennesaw's 40 points came from the foul line.
-10 of 11 Hawks posted positive plus/minus numbers.
-The Hawks topped KSU in fast break points, 14-6.
-Both teams grabbed 35 rebounds.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth takes on Stetson tomorrow in the second day of the MAAC-ASUN Challenge at 8:30 p.m.