SHANGHAI, China- Paced by a 14-point evening from Collin Stewart (Glenville, N.Y./Mekeel Christian Academy), the Monmouth men's basketball team dominated all four quarters in a 78-61 win over the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association on Monday at Fudan University.
“Today was a lot of fun for all of us, I thought my kids played great but the thing they did was approach the game with a seriousness that we haven't always done,” said Head Coach King Rice “They really had a focus on having fun during the game. We made it fun for ourselves, and it was great results.
The Hawks jumped out immediately, knocking down their first four shots with none of them hitting the rim. Je'lon Hornbeak (Arlington, Texas/Grace Prep/Oklahoma) drained a free throw line jumper, Chris Brady (Greenlawn, N.Y./Harborfields) cut inside and scored, Justin Robinson (Lake Katrine, N.Y./Kingston) banged home a long two and Stewart started his solid evening, connecting on a triple from the right corner.
After Shanghai cut the lead to 9-8, Stewart hit another three, this one from the wing to put the Hawks up four midway through the first quarter. A 13-2 run put the Hawks ahead 28-12 halfway through the second, getting a Brady three-point play and a Stewart dunk in transition to start the spurt. Stewart then knocked down his third three-pointer from the left side and Robinson put in a step back.
Austin Tilghman (Wilmington, Del./Archbishop Carroll (Pa.)) answered a 4-0 mini-run from Shanghai with a corner three, and Josh James (Greenburgh, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) converted two straight baskets to push the MU lead to 19 with just over four minutes until the half.
Hornbeak came out of the stoppage hot, nailing a pull-up three from up top and also hitting a left corner three on consecutive possessions to make the score 43-26 MU, where it would stand at the half.
Deon Jones (Wilmington, Del./Sanford School/Towson) had a solid start to the second half, hitting a free-throw line jumper and dunking in transition. He also got to the rim to score after a pair of nice plays from Robinson sparked the stretch. Robinson threw a perfect field ahead of the field to Zac Tillman (Yeadon, Pa./Shipley School) and followed that with a shifty set of moves in the lane, scoring on a floater. After a Sharks timeout, Jones went up and over a Shanghai defender to put one in and put Monmouth up by 18.
Late in the third, Max DiLeo (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) put home back-to-back threes, one from the corner and one from the left side. With 6:20 to go, Robinson threw a perfect lob for Stewart, who put an exclamation point on the night with the alley-oop.
In the closing minutes, Ba'Shawn Mickens (Summit, N.J./Summit) netted a straightaway three and Dan Pillari (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) zigzagged his way through the Shanghai defense to score on a reverse to make it 78-61, which would be the final.
Stewart led MU in scoring with 14, and also added three rebounds and five steals. Robinson and Hornbeak both had 12, and Robinson dished our four assists. Tillman was Monmouth's leading rebounder with six, and the Hawks held 7'3” center Zhang Zhaoxu to just four points.
The trip continues this week, with back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday in Hefei. All updates for the trip will continue on Twitter @MonmouthBBall, and online all updates are on this page: http://www.monmouthhawks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=14300&ATCLID=210102893
Additional Rice Quotes
On Collin Stewart's 14-point game: Collin is one of the best players on our team and when he really believes it the other guys believe it but tonight, Je'lon and Justin, I felt like they kept talking to Collin and telling him how important he was to the team, so that makes Collin feel like he really is a major part of it and he relaxes, and the results are the results. I think we'll see a lot more of that this season.
On the difference in physical play from Game One on Saturday: I definitely thought it was very physical but our legs were fresher. The other night, you travel 14 hours on a plane, you play the next day, we weren't adjusted, you never make excuses but we had heavy, heavy legs, and then their physicality was a lot to deal with but today, our legs weren't heavy so we could deal with their physicality much better.
Collin Stewart Quotes
Stewart on his performance: The whole team just picks me up all the time, they believe in me, Coach Rice says he believes in me more than I do so I just went with it tonight and felt confident and the ball was falling.
Stewart on the atmosphere in the arena: It was great, I know they're probably rooting for the Sharks but they seem to like it when we win. It was really crazy, if you just dunk even if it's not crazy they go crazy.
