CHARLOTTE, NC – Monmouth University Men's Basketball (0-1) mounted a huge comeback and had a chance to win at the buzzer, but fell just short at Charlotte (1-0) on Tuesday night in the 2021-22 season opener, 68-66. Graduate center Walker Miller netted 23 points in his Monmouth debut, a career high to lead all scorers.
 
Trailing by 15 with 12:55 left, the Hawks went on a run. With 8:34 left, George Papas nailed a three, plus the foul to cut the deficit to 51-45 after the four-point play. The 49ers got the lead back to nine, but MU wasn't done, scoring on a Miller put-back before Shavar Reynolds drilled a triple to make it a four-point contest. Myles Ruth made a critical three from the right corner at 3:52 to trim it to three, and MU was within two after Miller netted his 23^rd point of the contest with 1:26 to go. The Blue and White forced a shot clock violation and got it back down a basket with 7.6 seconds to go, but Papas' potential winning triple was off the mark.
 
Charlotte led by as many as 13 in the opening half, but seven points from Miller kept the Hawks within striking distance. He made Monmouth's final three field goals of the half to send the Blue and White to the intermission down 32-23
 
NOTES AND QUOTES
 
"My kids fought so hard and I just told them in the locker room that I love them and if we try that hard every night we're going to win a whole bunch of games. We had a shot at the end, we went with George and George got a decent look but you have to give credit to Ron Sanchez and Charlotte, they have some awesome kids and they play really hard." – Head Coach King Rice
 
"I thought I played alright but I thought I could have made a couple of extra plays to help us win because at the end of the day, that's all I care about and that's what this is all about." – Graduate center Walker Miller

-Miller's 23 points is the most by a Hawk in his MU debut under King Rice.
-The Hawks shot 14-15 (93.3%) from the foul line, the best since going 8-8 at Fairfield on February 4, 2020.
-Miller set career bests in points (23), rebounds (7), blocks (3) and field goals made (9).
-Shavar Reynolds set his career best with 18 points.
-George Papas topped his career best with his first 10-rebound performance.
-Reynolds also tied a career best with seven rebounds.
-Nikkei Rutty's 31 minutes marked a career high.
-Monmouth seniors accounted for 57 of the 66 points.
-Myles Ruth had five rebounds to tie a career high.
-MU took on Charlotte for the first time since 2007, and are now 1-1 all time against the 49ers.
-Monmouth is now 6-5 under King Rice on opening night.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-The Hawks outrebounded Charlotte 38-30.
-MU had 12 assists to nine for the 49ers.
-The Hawks limited Charlotte to 38.2% shooting and 22.2% from three.
-Monmouth shot 37.5% from the field.
-MU was 10-10 from the foul line in the second half.
-The Blue and White outscored Charlotte in the second half 43-36.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth heads to Towson to take on the Tigers on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.