RIVERDALE, NY – Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) set the program record with his 261^st career made three-pointer as the Monmouth University Basketball team (10-5, 10-4 MAAC) completed a sweep of Manhattan College (5-8, 4-8 MAAC) in overtime on Saturday night, 71-69. Melik Martin (York, PA/York Catholic) posted his second double-double in the last three games as all four MU seniors scored in double figures in the win.

After Ant Nelson netted the first bucket of overtime, Hammond knocked one in from the foul line and George Papas (Jersey City, NJ/Union Catholic) made two free throws to put MU up. After Warren Williams split a pair, Martin hit the games' biggest shot with a wing triple to put the Hawks up four, and MU got a stop in the closing seconds to wrap up the win.

MU trimmed an early-second half deficit of six quickly, and took the lead after Nikkei Rutty (New Rochelle, NY/Trinity-Pawling) converted two in a row. MU scored five in a row to lead 48-43 after Jarvis Vaughan () blocked a shot at one end and banked in a jumper at the other, and the lead grew to 10 at the 7:28 mark. After Hammond's three to break the program record put the Blue and White up 10 again at 6:01, Manhattan got consecutive threes from Elijah Buchanan to cut it to three. Late in regulation, Samba Diallo converted in tight with eight seconds left, plus one to tie the game and force overtime.

Manhattan opened with a 9-0 run before MU settled in and tied the game at 13 with back-to-back Samuel Chaput (Longueuil, Quebec/Saint Anthony's [TX]) buckets at 11:12. The Jaspers again used a 10-0 run to take the lead, but triples from Papas and Martin got MU back within two before the home team took a four-point lead into the locker room.

NOTES AND QUOTES

"Just another Monmouth-Manhattan battle. Sometimes the games get pretty ugly because it seems like we foul each other a lot but that was a tough battle tonight. We were doing great but Steve's teams always keep fighting so they came back and got the game to overtime and then I think in OT we were very fortunate. A few things bounced our way and we were able to get that win." – King Rice

"Deion had a bunch of good looks tonight and he knocked down the one at the end of the shot clock. He needed one and we're super happy because that's a big-time record to get and maybe that will last another 30 years." – Rice on Hammond breaking the three-point record

"I'm super excited that I got the record that's stood for 30 years. That's amazing to me. There's nothing to do now but keep pushing. I was just happy to hit a shot in the game, and I started feeling it after they called timeout and we went back to the huddle and all my teammates and coaches were really excited for me." – Deion Hammond

"Congrats to Deion, great player, better person. I know because he was such a good teammate to my son David, who was a walk-on his sophomore season. That is when my son told me 'Dad, this kid is Deion is good, he's going to break all your three-point records." – Monmouth Hall of Famer Dave Calloway, who held the three-point record for 30 years with 260 made triples

-Deion Hammond set the program record for career three pointers made with his 261^st at the 6:01 mark of the second half, passing Dave Calloway's 30-year mark of 260.
-All four Monmouth seniors scored in double figures.
-Monmouth swept its fourth MAAC series in seven tries, and swept its first road series of the year.
-Melik Martin posted his second double-double in the last three games after coming one rebound shy yesterday.
-Nikkei Rutty set a career-high with four blocked shots, the most in a game by a Hawk since Mustapha Traore had four also at Manhattan to wrap up the 2018-19 regular season.
-Rutty's 11 rebounds is tied for the most by a Hawk this season.
-George Papas tied a career-high with six rebounds.
-Sam Chaput grabbed a career-high four steals.
-The Hawks have won seven of their last eight games and are the first MAAC team to 10 wins this season.
-Monmouth is now 2-0 this year in overtime.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth limited Manhattan to 30% from three and 36.5% from the field.
-MU outscored Manhattan 24-13 off turnovers.
-The Hawks were better off the bench, 17-7.
-The game featured seven lead changes and five ties.
-There were 51 fouls whistled in the contest.
-Warren Williams led Manhattan with 20 points, while Samba Diallo had 10 rebounds.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth is off next weekend, and is back on the court on Friday, February 19 at home against Fairfield.