PHILADELPHIA, PA – Xander Rice scored 22 points as Monmouth University Men's Basketball held Lafayette College to 17 first-half points en route to a third straight victory, 63-53 to move to 2-0 at the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic inside the Palestra. MU never trailed in the game, with Nikita Konstantynovskyi adding 11 rebounds on the afternoon.
 
MU kept Lafayette at an arms length the entire second half, answering every Leopards push. Lafayette got it down to five early, but MU responded, with Cornelius Robinson Jr. making a fallaway jumper before Konstantynovskyi made a jumper of his own to push it to 13. The Leopards never got within seven again, with Monmouth extending the lead at the foul line to close out the 63-53 win.
 
Monmouth's defense was stifling early, allowing just one field goal in the first 11:46 and limiting Lafayette to 1-13 to start in building a 14-4 lead. MU went up 11 after an 8-0 run that saw Rice and Abdi Bashir Jr. knock in threes, and the Hawks closed the period on a 6-0 push to go into the break leading 32-17.
 
NOTES AND QUOTES
 
"We have a group that can really score the ball but today it was the defensive end. Lafayette is a tough out. Give them a lot of credit, but we can win a lot of different ways and that's a sign of a team that's growing and a team that has a chance." – Head Coach King Rice
 
"The biggest thing for us is our offense always gets going when we get steals and stops and turn them into transition buckets. We got out and did that early and that's when we play our best is when we get out and score on the fast break." – Guard Jakari Spence

"You have to give Lafayette a lot of credit, I've been playing them for four years and they're always well coached and going to be very, very good in the Patriot League. We had to focus on ourselves, we felt like we were making some mistakes defensively so we just had to come out in the second half, match their run and come out with energy." – Guard Xander Rice
 
-Monmouth's three-game winning streak is its longest of the season.
-The Hawks have won their first two games in the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic.
-Xander Rice topped the 20-point mark for the fifth time in six games this year.
-Rice opened the season with six in a row in double figures for the first time since Deion Hammond in 2020.
-MU had 15 steals, the most since grabbing 16 on January 12, 2020 at Quinnipiac.
-Monmouth has had a player with double-digit rebounds in four straight games for the first time under King Rice.
-Jakari Spence had five steals, the most by a Hawk in a game this season.
-Monmouth is now 2-1 all time against Lafayette.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth outshot Lafayette 37% to 31%.
-Monmouth was better off turnovers, 24-13.
-MU beat Lafayette in the paint, 28-18.
-The Hawks were better on the fast break, 10-5.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth concludes the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. against Penn. The game will air on ESPN+ and on the radio via the Monmouth Digital Network.