HEMPSTEAD, NY – Monmouth University Men's Basketball was led by Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist), who scored in double figures for the second straight game, but the Hawks fell at Hofstra University on Saturday by a 94-74 count. Both teams move to an even 1-1 on the season.

The Blue and White came hard out of the locker room, scoring the first nine points of the second period and 11 of the first 13. Marcus McClary (Linden, NJ/The Patrick School) scored six points before the first media timeout of the stanza, and George Papas (Jersey City, NJ/Union Catholic) knocked home a second-chance three ball to cap the opening 9-0 spurt. A pair of Papas foul shots at the 8:52 mark trimmed it to as little as a 13-point margin at 70-57, but the Pride held off the Blue and White down the stretch. The Pride shot 31 second-half free throws and made 24 of them to hold their lead, while MU put up 50 points in the second half and won the period, but it wasn't enough, falling 94-74.

After Ray Salnave's (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) three pointer at 11:09 put MU up 18-17, Hofstra used a 15-0 run to take a 32-18 advantage. Rutty got into double figures for the first time in his career to stop the stretch, but the Pride netted the next 17 and eventually took a 51-24 lead to the locker room.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"That's how college basketball goes sometimes. We have seven more games in November and then I'll have a better feel for our team. I knew they would shoot it well, I didn't think they would shoot 60% in the first half. I was proud of our kids for continuing to fight. Joe Mihalich is a great coach and a good friend of mine, and I have all the respect in the world for how he runs his program." – Head Coach King Rice

-Samuel Chaput made his first career start, getting the nod at the point guard spot.
-Nikkei Rutty scored 10 first-half points to find himself in double figures for the first time in his career.
-Rutty's seven rebounds marked a career-high.
-George Papas dished out seven assists, his career best.
-Deion Hammond and Ray Salnave each scored in double figures for the second consecutive game.
-Mustapha Traore netted 10 points, his 12^th career game in double figures.
-Monmouth is now 6-4 all-time against Hofstra.
-Gob Gabriel netted his first career points in the game.
-Freshman Jarvis Vaughan made both of his field goal attempts.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth was outshot 53% to 41%.
-The Blue and White won the second half, 50-43.
-Hofstra took 35 free throws to Monmouth's nine.
-MU scored 31 bench points to the Pride's 20.
-Hofstra was led by by 17 points apiece from Desure Buie and Eli Pemberton.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth heads to Manhattan, KS to take on Big 12 foe Kansas State on Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.