WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth University Men's Basketball (2-2, 2-1 MAAC) led for the final 29:06 behind 21 Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) points and another 10 from Nikkei Rutty (New Rochelle, NY/Loomis-Chaffee) in a dominating MAAC win over Canisius College (1-2, 1-2 MAAC) Sunday in West Long Branch.

MU extended its lead to 17 before a quick 7-0 Griffs run made it nine at 13:47 of the second half, the only time in the period it would be at single digits. MU followed that with 14 of the next 17 points capped by Donovann Toatley's (Largo, MD/Riverdale Baptist School/Chattanooga) triple to lead by 20. The Hawks led by as many as 27 after a 9-0 run closed out by Gob Gabriel's (Manchester, NH/Bradford Christian Academy) fall-away jumper. The Hawks closed the game with five first-year players on the floor, including four freshmen and junior transfer Mateo Delmoral (Cliffwood Beach, NJ/Matawan/Brookdale CC), who made his MU debut.

A more defensive start to the game saw neither team lead by more than one possession for the first 10+ minutes of play. Trailing by three, MU ripped off a 9-0 run paced by five points from Gabriel to lead 20-14. Canisius whittled it down to two, but the final five minutes of the period were all Hawks, as MU used an 11-0 run to lead by 14. Myles Foster (Brooklyn, NY/Brooks School) finished a pair of smooth post moves and George Papas (Jersey City, NJ/Union Catholic) capped the stretch with a three as the Hawks scored 16 of the period's final 21 points to lead 44-30 at the intermission.

NOTES AND QUOTES

"Today we played a good solid 40 minutes. Deion Hammond has been amazing since he's been here, he represents Monmouth really well and he's a great basketball player. I should probably start the game by giving him the ball five or six or seven times but he's such an unselfish kid he's cool with everybody else having opportunities. His ability is so unbelievable." – King Rice

"Nikkei has grown up in this program. He was one of the young men I thought it was important to see his mother over Christmas. I've seen him grow up here, he got thrown into the fire and he did very well but now he's a junior. He's trying to take over a big-time leadership role. We're super excited about his growth in our program." – Rice on Nikkei Rutty

-Deion Hammond led MU in scoring for the third straight game, posting his 17^th career game with 20+ points.
-The Hawks topped the 80-point mark for the second time this season.
-MU has now won the opener of the MAAC back-to-back in both opportunities this season.
-Nikkei Rutty notched his third career game in double figures, and was one point shy of his career high.
-Gob Gabriel tied a career-high with seven points.
-Myles Foster set a career best with eight points and four made field goals.
-Klemen Vuga converted his first career three-pointer.
- Hammond moved into ninth on the all-time DI scoring list, passing Fernando Sanders.
-Hammond and Marcus McClary each played in their 100^th career game in a Monmouth uniform. They become the 43^rd and 44^th players to play in 100+ games for MU at the Division I level.
-Mateo Delmoral made his Monmouth debut, playing the final 1:57.

NUMBERS CRUNCH

-Monmouth outrebounded Canisius 40-38.
-The Hawks limited the Griffs to 33.8% shooting and 25% from three.
-MU shot a season-best 54.1% from the field.
-The Hawks were better in the paint, 44-22.
-Canisius was led by 12 points from Majesty Brandon on 5-17 FG.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth completes the two-game set with Canisius tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+.