WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth University Men's Basketball (18-13, 12-8 MAAC) got 27 points from Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) but fell to Siena College (19-10, 15-5 MAAC) in the regular season finale on Friday, 86-72.

The Saints led by as many as 18 in the early portion of the second half before Monmouth cut into it. An 11-1 run that included six straight Hammond points made it a nine-point game, and the Hawks would again trim it to nine at the 5:49 mark on a Hammond layup but Siena held the Hawks run off, eventually closing out the road victory.

A close game early saw Siena use a 16-1 run in the opening half to take a 19-point lead. The Hawks would not go away, however, using their own 10-0 run that featured threes from Hammond and Ray Salnave (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) to eventually cut it to a nine-point game at the break.

NOTES AND QUOTES

"Let's give Camren and Siena all the credit. They came in and outplayed us on our home floor. Doesn't feel good right now but we're all big boys. You can take somebody beating you and they beat us today." – Head Coach King Rice

-Monmouth closes out the regular season as the #4 seed in the MAAC Tournament, the fourth time in seven seasons they have earned a bye and fifth time in seven years the Hawks have posted a record above .500 in MAAC play.
-Sam Chaput dished out a career-high 11 assists, the most for a Hawk this season.
-Chaput's 11 assists are the most since Austin Tilghman dished out 11 at Rider on January 29, 2018.
-Hammond now has 14 career games of 20+ points, with 10 of them coming this season.
-George Papas scored in double digits for the fifth time in the last seven games.
-Sam Ibiezugbe made his first career start in his final career home game.
-Monmouth's three seniors, Mustapha Traore, Louie Pillari and Sam Ibiezugbe were honored pregame as part of Senior Night.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth shot 39.1% from the field and 80% from the foul line.
-The Hawks forced 16 Siena turnovers.
-MU was better on the fast break, 25-7.
-The Blue and White topped Siena off turnovers, 21-6.
-MU was outrebounded by Siena 43-27.
-Donald Carey led Siena with 18 points, while Manny Camper had 18 rebounds.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth is the #4 seed in the upcoming MAAC Tournament and will play #5 Quinnipiac on Thursday, March 12 at 9:30 p.m. at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.