ALBANY, NY – For the first time since 2016, Monmouth University Men's Basketball (14-20) will play for a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title. MU knocked off second-seeded Canisius College (15-17) 73-59 on Sunday night at the Times Union Center in the MAAC semifinals to secure a trip to Monday's championship game, the Hawks' third straight tournament win.  

MU never relinquished the lead in the second half, but the Golden Griffins were able to trim it to three several times, the latest on Malik Johnson's take to the rim at 8:33 to make it 55-52. The Hawks scored the next eight points over 3:50 to lead by 11, getting four points in that span from freshman Sam Chaput (Longueuil, Quebec/Saint Anthony's), and pushed it to 13 on Ray Salnave's (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) jumper at 2:28. The Griffs forced a pair of turnovers and were able to get it within eight, but MU knocked home six free throws in the final 50 seconds to lock it up.

Neither team led by more than one possession in the opening half until the 10:06 mark, when Monmouth got a Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) jumper to take a five-point lead. That lead grew to 10 when Marcus McClary (Linden, NJ/The Patrick School) was left wide open for three to make it 29-19 at 4:06m and to 12 on Hammond's second-chance triple moments later. Ultimately, MU took a nine-point advantage into the locker room. Diago Quinn (New York, NY/Lake Forest Academy) nearly posted a first-half double-double, finishing the period with 10 points and nine boards.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"A lot of people didn't expect to see us here. [Canisius Head Coach] Reggie [Witherspoon] is one of my closest friends. He mentors me and tells me when I need to calm down. He's helped me be a better coach. It's hard playing against him because he's a really good coach. I have all of the respect in the world for him. Tonight was a great win for our program. I thought our kids really fought hard. Canisius made its run, but we stayed together and played Monmouth basketball." – Head Coach King Rice
 "I kept saying all along that we had a better basketball team than 0-12. I said that they were great kids and that I didn't coach them well at times. I might have scheduled too hard for a group that is young. Our team just kept coming every day trying to get better. I told them that we've had harder things in our life than this. I kept telling them that if we keep our heads in the right place, we'll have a chance against anybody. They kept believing, and now they're believing in each other more than ever." – King Rice
 
"Once we get to the MAAC Tournament, we know it's just a win or go home situation. Even though starting this season 0-12 is not what we wanted to happen, we knew that if we kept our heads where they needed to be, getting here is a new season." – Center Diago Quinn
 
"When they kept getting close, we just kept pulling each other back in. We knew coming in that the team that's together will get it done. Every time we hit a hardship, we just stayed with it and got it done together." – Guard Deion Hammond

-Monmouth advances to its second MAAC title game and first since 2016, also against Iona.
-The Hawks have now beaten three teams consecutively in the MAAC Tournament that they did not defeat in the regular season (Niagara, Quinnipiac, Canisius).
-MU is seeking to become the first team since the 2002 Siena Saints to win four games en route to a MAAC title.
-MU is the second straight sixth-seeded team to reach the MAAC finals (Fairfield).
-Diago Quinn posted his fourth double-double of the season and fifth of his career with 14 points and 10 boards.
-Quinn tied former Hawk Chris Brady tonight with his 135^th career game played, and will become Monmouth's all-time games played leader tomorrow with an appearance in the title game.
-Marcus McClary posted his fourth career double figure game, including his second in a row and third in the last five contests.
-Deion Hammond led MU with 19 points, his 42^nd career double figure game and 22^nd of the season.
-King Rice is now 6-5 all time in MAAC Tournaments.
-Dave Calloway Jr. and Mike James Jr. made their MAAC Tournament debuts.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth outshot Canisius 47.1% to 37.9%.
-MU outrebounded the Griffs 39-28.
-Monmouth was better off the bench at a 17-7 clip.
-MU led for 36:02 of the 40 minutes, trailing for only 1:14.
-Canisius was led by 17 points from Takal Molson and six rebounds from Jalanni White.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth meets #1 Iona in the MAAC Championship Game tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. The game will air nationally on ESPN2 and on the radio via Westwood One, and locally on the Shore Sports Network.