NEW ROCHELLE, NY – Monmouth University Men's Basketball (12-7, 6-2 MAAC) won its fourth in a row and scored a season high in points in a 94-88 win over Iona College (5-10, 3-5 MAAC) Sunday afternoon. Five Hawks went into double figures, led by Deion Hammond's (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) 25 points.

Iona came out of the locker room quickly to take a seven-point lead, a run immediately answered by the Hawks with their own 9-0 push to go back on top. After an Isaiah Ross three made it a one-point game with 9:14 to go, the Hawks created some separation, going on a 13-1 run to lead by 12. Iona got it all the way down to four before a key three from Ray Salnave (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) made it seven again with just over a minute to go. Back-to-back buckets from Isaiah Washington cut it to two with 40 seconds to go before MU sealed it at the foul line.

A high-scoring first half saw Iona jump to an 18-9 lead, with the Gaels three-point shooting keeping them in front until the 8:38 mark of the opening period. George Papas (Jersey City, NJ/Union Catholic) hit a three to tie the game, and MU took the lead on Hammond's back with the junior ripping off nine of MU's next 12 points. Isaiah Washington tied the game from the stripe with 10 seconds to go, but MU took a one-point lead into the locker room after Louie Pillari (Tinton Falls, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) knocked in a foul shot with 3.2 seconds left.


NOTES AND QUOTES
"Every Iona-Monmouth game is going to be an exciting game. Someone might get their doors blown off or it could go back and forth. Today we were fortunate, I thought Iona's kids played well and not only was Coach Cluess out but their acting head coach was sick, EJ Crawford was out of the game and it was still a back and forth game. That's MAAC Basketball." – Head Coach King Rice on ESPN+ postgame

"I just try to come out every day and do what I do. My teammates do a good job of finding me. It's always good to get a win, especially against Iona, they're a tough team. We tried to key in late on defense, I know in the first half they hit a lot of shots so in the second half that was a focus for us." – Guard Deion Hammond

-Monmouth's 94 points are a season high, and the most since netting 98 in the MAAC quarterfinals against Quinnipiac on March 9, 2019.
-The Hawks have won four in a row, tied for the longest winning streak of the season.
-MU posted a season high with 14 made threes, the most since making 16 in the 2017 NIT against Ole Miss.
-Deion Hammond's 25 points are the most by a Hawk this season.
-With today's +9 in assist-turnover ratio, Monmouth is now positive in the category for the season.
-Hammond has now scored 20+ points 11 times, with seven coming this year.
-Marcus McClary scored in double figures for the fourth game in a row for the first time in his career.
-Sam Chaput's 11 points marked his third career double digit game and second this season.
-Chaput also made two threes for the second time in his career.
-George Papas posted his sixth career double-digit effort, and fourth this season.
-Louie Pillari hit two threes in 55 seconds on consecutive possessions.
-Ray Salnave scored in double digits for the 47^th time, and 16^th this season.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-The teams combined to make 31 three pointers.
-Monmouth shot 43.8% from both the floor and three.
-MU outrebounded Iona 37-32.
-Monmouth's bench outscored Iona's 25-8.
-The teams exchanged the lead seven times as well as nine ties.
-MU limited Iona without a fast break point.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth is at Saint Peter's on Wednesday night to take on the Peacocks at 7:00 p.m. The game will air on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app as well as on the radio via the Shore Sports Network.