JERSEY CITY, NJ –Monmouth University's (9-16, 8-4) Men's Basketball team improved to 8-4 in conference play after earning a 53-51 win at Saint Peter's (6-16, 3-7) on Thursday night.  Marcus McClary (Linden, NJ/The Patrick School) netted a career-high 13 points in the victory for the Blue and White.

Dallas Watson's off balance three-point attempt with four seconds remaining rang off the left side of the rim and the ball fell to the floor as time ran out securing Monmouth's eighth Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win.

With 1:33 left and the game knotted at 51-51 redshirt junior Nick Rutherford (Indianapolis, IN/Allen/FAU) drew a charge after a turnover setting up Diago Quinn's (New York City, NY/Lake Forest Academy) eventual game-winning layup with 1:09 remaining. The Hawks forced a 10-second call on the ensuing possession but couldn't convert into points, setting up a SPU timeout with 17 seconds left and the ball. The MU defense rose to the occasion once again, stifling the Peacocks for13 seconds until Watson's three-point attempt.

After trailing at the break by two, Monmouth regained the lead early in the second half on a pair of Quinn free throws at the 16:53 mark of the stanza. The Hawks lead grew to eight on a Quinn reverse layup but the Peacocks answered with back-to-back three pointers to cut their deficit to 44-42 with 7:22 remaining. SPU retook the lead on a pair of Manny Dixon free throws with 5:28 to play before the two teams headed into the final media timeout deadlocked at 47 all.

The Hawks sprinted out to a 9-4 lead at the first media on the back of a pair of Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist) three pointers and a traditional three-point play by McClary. The Peacocks launched a 17-0 run over a 7:01 span to take a lead, one which they would hold heading into the break 27-25.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"That game went to the last second. It's always hard up here. Just watching Shaheen, he's such a good coach and I want to help him as much as possible." – Head Coach King Rice

"This is a credit to these kids. We're sitting right now in this league where we are and that's a credit to them. They keep working, they always keep working and that's what's making it fun to coach them. There's not a quit in this group. Sometimes we don't have our best nights and we keep fighting." – King Rice

"Coach told us this would be a tough game so my mindset, especially in the second half was to stop Turner. I think he had 15 in the first half so I just wanted to stop him, be aggressive and get steals… This one meant a lot especially after our last road trip where we went 0-2 so we knew coming into this week that after winning two last week, we want to win two this week. It's always tough on the road and it's always a fight in a MAAC game so we just have to get ready for Saturday." – Guard Nick Rutherford

• With the win the Hawks earned their eighth win of the conference season, which leads all teams in the MAAC. They are half a game behind Rider which is 7-3 and plays tomorrow night against Canisius.
• McClary set a new career-high in points with his first three pointer of the game with just under five minutes left in the first half. McClary would finish with 13 to lead the Hawks, his first career double-digit effort.
• McClary also netted five field goals, a career-best. He has also converted his last five triples.
• Diago Quinn scored in double figures for the third game in a row and 10^th time this season.
• MU shot 88% from the foul line, the highest mark of the season from the stripe.
• In Monmouth's eight conference wins, six of them have seen the Hawks hold the opponent to 60 points or less.
• Mustapha Traore hit a career-high seven free throws, three more than he had previously made in a game.
• Nick Rutherford grabbed eight rebounds for the fifth time this season, tying his high in a Monmouth uniform.
• Monmouth rebounded from the 17-0 Saint Peter's run to finish the final eight minutes of the first half on 14-6 run to close to within two.
• With the victory, Monmouth sweeps the series with the Peacocks and moves the all-time series to 25-15 in favor of SPU. Monmouth is 7-6 all-time against Saint Peter's since joining the MAAC. It was Monmouth's third road win of the season and the first in regulation.

 
NUMBERS CRUNCH

• Quinn finished with 10 points while Traore and Rutherford each chipped in nine.
• Rutherford led the team with eight rebounds in the contest.
• SPU's Davauhnte Turner lead all scorers with 20 points. The Peacocks also got 16 points from Samuel Idowu who chipped in with eight rebounds.
• Saint Peter's was credited with 10 blocks in the contest.
• Monmouth's defensive pressure forced a pair of 10 second calls in the second half, including one with 58.7 seconds left.
• The Hawks went 22-of-25 from the charity stripe (88%).
• Monmouth outrebounded the Peacocks 32-29 in the contest.
• MU topped SPU in fast break points, 9-0.
• The Hawks scored 18 points in the paint to SPU's 14.

 
UP NEXT

• Monmouth heads up to Fairfield to face the Stags onn Saturday afternoon at 1:00 PM. That game can be watched on ESPN3 and heard on ShoreSportsNetwork.com.