WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth University Men's Basketball (16-11, 10-6) led by as many as 22 and put five in double figures in a dominating 89-78 win over Quinnipiac University (12-14, 7-9 MAAC) Sunday. The Hawks improve to 9-1 at home, and sweep two MAAC games this weekend.

Monmouth opened the second half in style, throwing down two dunks to extend the lead to 15. Ray Salnave (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) and Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) alternated the next four makes to extend the MU lead to 20 before Louie Pillari (Tinton Falls, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) got hot, making four second half threes. Pillari's third made it a 22-point game after Gob Gabriel (Manchester, NH/Bradford Christian Academy) knocked in his first career triple. MU held off QU the rest of the way to win for the second time this weekend.

Quinnipiac led for the first 10:26 of the game, leading by as many as nine after making three triples in less than a minute. The Bobcats would not lead again, with the Hawks taking their first lead at 9:34 on a Pillari three. The MU lead extended to four on Nikkei Rutty's (New Rochelle, NY/Trinity-Pawling) ferocious dunk, plus the foul, and MU followed that with an 8-0 run to take a 41-31 lead. That push extended to 15-1 after Papas nailed a triple, and MU went to the locker room leading 50-36.

NOTES AND QUOTES

"I'm super happy with the way our team performed today. Baker Dunleavy is one of the best coaches to come into our league. He's a sharp guy, he makes you really pay attention to find ways to break his defense apart or contain some of the things that they run. I was so proud of the fight my kids showed right from the beginning. They hit some threes early, but our defense took care of business the rest of the way." – Head Coach King Rice

"You see what can happen when we do what we're supposed to do, and communicate out there. We talked a lot early, especially Marcus and myself and our voices that can help initiate our defense and we make plays off our defense." – Junior guard Ray Salnave

-Monmouth notched a 20+ assist game for the seventh time in the King Rice era.
-MU's 21 assists are tied for the third most in a game under Rice, and the most since dishing out 21 against Ole Miss on March 14, 2017 in the NIT.
-The Hawks +12 assist-turnover ratio is the best since February 17, 2019 against Marist when MU was also +12.
-MU's 22-point second half lead is its largest advantage at any point during MAAC play this season.
-The Hawks put five in double figures for the first time since February 2 against Rider.
-Melik Martin has scored in double figures in three games in a row for the first time in his career.
-George Papas has posted four straight games in double digits for the first time in his career.
-Gob Gabriel tied his season high with five points, both coming against Quinnipiac, and made his first career three pointer.
-Louie Pillari made four threes, a season high and one off a career best.
-Sam Chaput posted an impressive six assist-no turnover game. It is the third time he has been +6 this season (6a, 0t at Siena, 7a, 1t at Quinnipiac).
-Monmouth committed just one first-half turnover.
-Ray Salnave tied his season-high with four steals.
-MU matched its MAAC win total from a season ago with 10.
-Sam Ibiezugbe played in his 100^th career game.
-Monmouth's all-time leading scorer across all divisions, Ron Kornegay, was honored pregame as part of his induction to the CACC Hall of Fame. The Hawks competed in the CACC when Kornegay scored 2,526 while with the Hawks in the late 1960's.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth outshot Quinnipiac 49.2% to 42.9%.
-The Hawks forced 17 QU turnovers and turned it into 17 points.
-There were only two ties and one lead change in the game.
-MU was better in the paint, 34-22.
-The Blue and White dominated off the bench to a 48-18 clip.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth is back in action on Friday night against Rider at 9:00 p.m. The game will air on ESPNU and on the radio via the Shore Sports Network.