LOUDONVILLE, NY – Monmouth University Men's Basketball (3-4, 3-3 MAAC) had two players score in double figures, but Siena College (2-0, 2-0 MAAC) used a strong second half to pick up the back end of the weekend series on Monday, 76-62.

A one-possession game the first five minutes of the second half, Siena used a 17-1 run to lead 58-43. MU hung in and got it within 11 after three-point plays from George Papas (Jersey City, NJ/Union Catholic) and Donovann Toatley (Largo, MD/Riverdale Baptist School/Chattanooga) but Siena took the second game of the back-to-back.
 
In the opening half, MU used a 10-2 spurt to turn a deficit into a one-point game, with Gob Gabriel (Manchester, NH/Bradford Christian Academy) knocking home a three to lead to a Siena timeout. Nick Hopkins triple gave Siena a six-point lead late in the half, but the Hawks answered by scoring the final seven of the period including a pair of Papas triples to lead 35-34 going to the locker room.

NOTES AND QUOTES

"All credit to Siena. Today, they were way more of a team than we are right now so this is a great lesson for Monmouth. We have a lot of talent but our talent needs to be more together and that's my job so I am going to work on that extremely hard to make us be a better team. We got some great individual play here and there but right now our team concept isn't where it needs to be." – King Rice

-Deion Hammond's 12 points put him in eighth place all-time and put him over the 1,400 mark for his career, passing Monmouth Athletics Hall of Famer Dave Calloway.
-Hammond scored in double figures for the seventh consecutive game to open the season.
-George Papas led Monmouth in scoring for the second time this season and first time since opening night.
-12 Hawks saw the floor and 11 of them scored in the game.
-Marcus McClary grabbed a season best nine rebounds, the most by a Hawk this season.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-MU was outshot 43.1% to 37.7%.
-Monmouth was better in bench points, 25-11.
-The Hawks were better in the paint, 38-34.
-Siena was led by Jalen Pickett's double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds. Manny Camper also added a double-double for the Saints.

UP NEXT
-The Hawks will take on Marist at home next weekend, with the first game set for Saturday, January 9 at 2:00 p.m.