WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth University Men's Basketball knocked off MAAC-leading Rider University behind 17 points and seven rebounds from Diago Quinn (New York, NY/Lake Forest Academy), with Ray Salnave (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) knocking in the game-winning free throws with 35.5 seconds left. Monmouth moves to 8-16, 7-4 in the MAAC with its second in a row while Rider drops to 12-9, 7-2 in league play. 

Leading by 12 out of the half, Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) knocked in a three just a minute into the second to give MU a 13-point lead. Rider immediately started the comeback, scoring six in a row after a second Hammond triple to trim it to three. They would ultimately get it tied on Devine Eke's dunk at 13:48, and took their first lead of the game on Anthony Durham's triple at 9:07, making it 60-57. Rider's lead grew to six, but MU got it even at 69 on Nick Rutherford's (Indianapolis, IN/Allen/Florida Atlantic) fast-break finish with two minutes to play. Rider took a one-point lead shortly thereafter, but Quinn tied it from the foul line before Salnave put the Hawks up with 35.5 to go on a drive that got him to the charity stripe. MU closed the game on a 12-2 run to secure the win.

The Hawks led by as many as 18 in the first half, steadily building the lead to 24-17 until an 11-0 run with four points from Rutherford and a Hammond triple extended it to 18. The lead was 16 following five free throws made from MU, but Rider scored the final four points of the half to trim it to 12 headed to the intermission.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"That's a very good basketball team, the way they came back in the second half and how fast it was really knocked me back some. Credit to them, but credit to our guys for continuing to believe against the number one team in the league." – Head Coach King Rice

"They responded today in a positive way. The kids brought us back, I just tried to help with some ideas but Nick Rutherford kept being positive, Diago just waited his time after he had some fouls called and went back in and started dominating like he was doing earlier in the game. I thought our defense tightened back up. We gave them points from turnovers and that's when our defense got spread out and they were driving into our lane. We settled back down and started getting stops again and that's how we won the game." – King Rice

"I think we just needed to stay in a positive mindset and know that we could do it as long as we focused in on our defense. That's pretty much it, we have guys in the huddle like Nick [Rutherford] that stays positive and keeps telling us the things we need to correct in a manner where everyone can take it the right way and stay level headed." – Senior Diago Quinn

-Monmouth tied Rider for the most total wins in the MAAC this season with seven.
-The Hawks swept a weekend MAAC set for the second time this season.
-MU closed the game on a 12-2 run to secure the victory.
-Mustapha Traore grabbed seven rebounds, the seventh time this season he has seven or more boards in one game.
-Traore blocked a pair of shots for the fourth time in his career, and third time this season.
-Quinn's 17 points marked his second straight game in double figures and ninth of the season.
-Quinn tied a career-high with nine made free throws.
-Quinn has now corralled seven or more rebounds nine times this season.
-The Hawks tied last year's MAAC mark of seven wins.
-Deion Hammond continued his streak of scoring in double figures to seven games, finishing with 11.
-Nick Rutherford set his Monmouth high with five made free throws, making all five of his attempts.
-Rutherford's five assists is his second best output as a Hawk.
-Ray Salnave has now scored to tie or put Monmouth up in the final minute of a game five times this season (at Hofstra, at Penn, at Quinnipiac, vs. Iona, vs. Rider).
-MU now leads the series with Rider since joining the MAAC 7-6, with the teams separated by a total of 21 points in the 13 games.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-The teams each grabbed 29 rebounds.
-Monmouth outshot Rider 48% to 41.5%.
-MU limited Rider to 19% from three (4-19).
-Monmouth led in bench points, 25-21.
-The Hawks outran the Broncs 25-11 on the fast break.
-Rider was led by Dimencio Vaughn's 15 points and nine rebounds.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth heads to the Yanitelli Center on Thursday to take on Saint Peter's at 7:00 p.m.