West Long Branch, NJ – Abdi Bashir Jr. scored 27 points as Monmouth University Men's Basketball tied the program record for consecutive home wins with its 14^th in a row, beating Fairfield University Saturday in the home opener, 88-74.
 
The Hawks opened the second half on a 14-5 run to lead by 19 after four straight points from Dok Muordar. Fairfield responded with a run of their own, trimming the Hawk lead to seven with 8:03 to go. Out of a timeout, Madison Durr converted a strong move to the rim and a three-point play, and Bashir knocked in consecutive triples before Jack Collins netted two late threes to close out the home win.
 
Monmouth roared to a quick 18-7 lead, and after Fairfield cut it to nine, an 11-0 Hawks run made the lead 20 in the first half, sparked by seven straight points from Cornelius Robinson III. MU led by double figures the remainder of the half, with the lead sitting at 43-33 at the break.
 
NOTES AND QUOTES
 
"I want to say thank you to all our fans who came out today. We had an incredible, incredible crowd. We have a great group of fans that come through rain, sleet or snow, they come and they support this program and nobody is more thankful than I am for them." – Head Coach King Rice
 
"We're playing a lot better the last month. As a group we think we can play a lot better than our record, we all get along on the court and outside of basketball and we're always encouraging each other. Super confident in what we have and we're super excited to move forward with one more game and then conference play." – Guard Jack Collins
 
-Monmouth tied a program record with its 14^th straight home win, previously set by the 2003-04 and 2004-05 groups.
-14 straight home wins is currently the 11^th longest streak in the nation.
-Abdi Bashir posted his fourth straight game with 20 or more points.
-Dok Muordar scored a career-best eight points.
-Jack Collins scored in doubles for the fourth time in the last five games.
-Madison Durr posted double-figures for the eighth time this year.
-Jaret Valencia netted double-digits for the fifth time this season.
-Collins tied a season-high with five assists.
-Valencia tied a season-high with four blocked shots.
-King Rice is now 14-5 against Fairfield all time, including three in a row.
-MU won its home opener for the first time since 2021.
-Monmouth shot a season-high 55% from the field.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-MU outshot Fairfield 55% to 38%.
-The Hawks were better from three, 47% to 28%.
-Monmouth topped the Stags in the paint, 40-30.
-MU led for 37:55 of the 40 minutes.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth visits #2/2 Auburn on December 30 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. The game will air on the SEC Network and on the radio via the Monmouth Digital Network.