BRIDGEPORT, CT – Monmouth University Men's Basketball (13-9, 7-4 MAAC) rallied to tie late but Allen Jeanne-Rose made a layup with 0.2 seconds remaining to send Fairfield University (9-12, 5-5 MAAC) to a 55-53 win at Webster Bank Arena Tuesday.

Fairfield led by five with 1:59 left after a Jeanne-Rose fast-break basket. Ray Salnave (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) answered with a driving layup, plus the foul to get MU within two. The Hawks drew an offensive foul to get the ball back, and Salnave knocked home an elbow jumper with 1:11 to go to knot things at 53. After the Hawks got it back again, Salnave took contact in the lane before Samuel Chaput (Longueuil, Quebec/Saint Anthony's [TX]) missed a three, leading to Jeanne-Rose's driving layup that ultimately won the game.

Monmouth trimmed Fairfield's early second half lead of 10 down to two multiple times, and ultimately it was a 6-0 run to put MU in front for the first time in the period, capped by a George Papas (Jersey City, NJ/Union Catholic) transition layup to make it 38-37. Four consecutive Jesus Cruz points put the Stags back up, but a dunk from Mustapha Traore (Philadelphia, PA/The Phelps School) tied things again at 44 at 4:05.

A low scoring first half saw Chaput rattle home a three at 8:28 to get MU within one at 9-8. The Stags answered with back-to-back threes to take a seven-point lead, and after a Chaput lay-in, Fairfield scored eight of the next 10 to go up 23-12. Monmouth responded late with a pair of buckets, including a Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) transition dunk to cut it to 23-16 at the break.

NOTES AND QUOTES

"Give Fairfield all the credit. They had a good plan and they did a good job with it. Good play by their kid, a smart play, the kid made it. Sometimes you get spread out, Chaput had a shot and I thought Deion had a shot at it too but they got going down the floor and made a layup." – Head Coach King RIce

-Ray Salnave posted his 50^th career double-digit game.
-Deion Hammond scored in doubles for the 64^th time in his career.
-Monmouth posted its best free throw percentage of the season, a perfect 8-8.
-Nikkei Rutty's eight rebounds are the second most for him in a game this year (12 vs. Rider).
-Marcus McClary returned to the starting lineup after missing his first career game.
-The Hawks played their fourth best defensive first half this season, and allowed less than 25 first-half points for the fourth time this season (Kansas State – 20, Pitt – 21, Kennesaw State – 17).

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-MU shot 31.3% to Fairfield's 40%.
-The Stags took 21 foul shots to Monmouth's eight.
-MU made three more field goals than Fairfield (21-18).
-The Hawks posted a positive assist-turnover radio (10-9).
-Monmouth forced 21 Stag turnovers.
-Fairfield was led by 14 points apiece from Landon Taliaferro and Jesus Cruz.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth hosts Saint Peter's on Sunday, February 9^th at 2:00 p.m. on ESPN+.