TOWSON, MD – Monmouth University Men's Basketball was defeated by Towson University Thursday night, 80-61 at TU Arena in Towson, MD. Xander Rice led the Hawks with 16 points on the evening.
 
Rice made three free throws and Jack Collins hit a three for a 6-0 push by MU to cut it to 12 with 14:20 to go. In a 14-point game, Towson used an 8-0 run to hold off the Hawks, with Quinn Peters knocking in a late three to make it 80-61, the final score.
 
A tight game in the early stages, Towson eventually used an 18-4 run to lead by as many as 16 in the opening period. Late jumpers from Cornelius Robinson Jr. and Abdi Bashir Jr. sent Monmouth to the locker room within 12 at 44-32.
 
NOTES AND QUOTES

"It started right away. I told the kids, most people hadn't outrebounded them at the time we did earlier in the year. When you outrebound and beat Pat's [Skerry] team, he had those kids so charged up today and we ran into a big, strong Towson team that was ready for us and showed us they didn't like that we beat them the first time." – Head Coach King Rice
 
-Rice scored in double digits for the 24^th time this year.
-Collins scored in double figures for the 16^th time this season.
-Jakari Spence had three steals for the fourth time this year.
-Quinn Peters made his second three of the season and first since 11/18 against Princeton.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
 
-Monmouth and Towson each had 12 points off turnovers.
-MU shot a better % from 3, 40% to 36%.
-The Hawks posted a positive assist-turnover ratio at 10 to eight.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth hosts North Carolina A&T in the final home game of the season on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The game will air on NBC Sports Philadelphia and FloSports, and tickets are available at MonmouthHawks.com/Tickets. Monmouth will honor its seniors at 1:40 p.m. as part of Senior Day.