JERSEY CITY, NJ – Monmouth University Men's Basketball (12-8, 6-3 MAAC) battled to the final buzzer and had a shot to tie the game, but ultimately fell at Saint Peter's University (8-10, 5-4 MAAC) 66-63 on Wednesday night at the Yanitelli Center. Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) led all scorers with 16 points.

Saint Peter's led by seven with 51 seconds to go and six with 15 seconds left, but Hammond converted a three-point play with five seconds to play to put MU within one. The MU press forced a Peacocks turnover on a ball out of bounds near half court, and the Hawks worked it to the corner for a game-tying three from George Papas (Jersey City, NJ/Union Catholic) that came up just off the mark.

SPU led by as many as eight in the final period but MU worked their way back, tying the game at 53 on a pair of Mustapha Traore (Philadelphia, PA/The Phelps School) foul shots at 5:35. SPU regained a seven point lead after a Matthew Lee bucket at 1:21. Sam Chaput (Longueuil, Quebec/Saint Anthony's [TX]) scored four baskets in the opening minutes of the half, including a three-point play.

The teams traded baskets in the early stages before a Melik Martin (York, PA/York Catholic) breakaway dunk put MU up 14-13. The lead went back and forth three times before the Peacocks took a seven-point lead with 17 seconds to go in the half, and led 36-29 at the break.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"Give all the credit to Saint Peter's. Tough game, back and forth, they got away from us a couple times and we fought back and got right back in it. Their team played harder than us in the first half, that's why we were down. We got it back together in the second half and we had a chance and a good shot at the end by one of the best shooters in the league and it just didn't go down. We've been playing high level ball for about a month now and we just got caught tonight." – Head Coach King Rice

-Sam Chaput posted his fourth career double-figure game and third this season.
-Monmouth and Saint Peter's have now split 14 games since Monmouth joined the MAAC, and are separated by 14 total points in those matchups.
-The Hawks had a season long four-game winning streak snapped.
-Deion Hammond scored 16 points, his 62^nd career double-figure effort and 16^th this season.
-Ray Salnave netted double-figures in scoring for the 48^th time in his career and 17^th this year.
-Salnave is now 11 points shy of joining Hammond in the 1,000-point club.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth shot 38.3% from the field and 33.3% from deep.
-The Hawks limited SPIU to 20% from three in the opening half.
-MU was better in the paint, 24-22.
-Saint Peter's was led by 11 points off the bench from Aaron Estrada.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth hosts Rider on Super Bowl Sunday, February 2 at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN+.