The men’s basketball team swept the home-and-home series against Farleigh Dickinson last week. On Wednesday, the Hawks handled FDU 7562 in Hackensack, N.J. Saturday night MU rolled again 8268.
The Hawks (918, 77) are tied for sixth in the Northeast Conference (NEC). The Knights (223, 113) are tied with Bryant for last in the NEC.
“I think our team is growing up right before your eyes,” said Head Coach King Rice.
In Wednesday’s game, the Blue and White built a 20point first half lead and cruised in the second half to a victory over their instate rival. The Hawks shot the lights out from three-point land in the first half, going eight of 10 from beyond the arc.
Jesse Steele led the Hawks with 15 points and six assists. Andrew Nicholas scored 11 points off the bench. Dion Nesmith added 10.
Melquan Bolding was the Knights leading scorer with 17 points off the bench. George Goode added 16 points and six rebounds.
“I am so proud of the effort they came out with. I want to take my hat off to my whole team,” said Coach Rice. “To get another road win is awesome, and with it being Rivalry Week, that’s even better.”
In Saturday’s game, Monmouth never trailed. The game was close at times, but FDU could never take over control. With the help of a strong student section wearing “FD WHO?” shirts, the Hawks kept the energy up for 40 minutes.
MU jumped out to a lead right away. Just over four minutes into the game, the Hawks led 145. Ed Waite started hot, scoring nine points of the team’s 14 points. Waite finished with 12 points in 22 minutes of playing time.
“I was in another zone today,” said Waite. “I knew what I had to do. Rebound, rebound, rebound.”
The Knights made it a close game early in the second half. With just over 16 minutes remaining in the game, the Hawks led 5150. Over the next 8:44 Monmouth went on a 174 run and took control of the game back at 6854. During the run, Marcus Ware scored six points, Nicholas five, Mike Myers Keitt four, and Austin Tillotson two points.
With just over two minutes remaining in the game, FDU was threatening. They were down by eight following a 60 run. Steele turned out the lights on a potential comeback. He made a three-point basket and a couple free throws to put the game away.
Steele and Ware led MU with 14 points each. Myers Keitt added 12 points off the bench.
Bolding was the game’s leading scorer with 24 points. Goode added 16 and Briahn Smith contributed 14 points.
If the season ended today, Monmouth would face Long Island University Brooklyn (187, 121) in the first round of the NEC tournament.
The Hawks have a pair of road NEC games this week. Thursday the team travels to Staten Island for a matchup with Wagner (214, 122). In their first meeting this season, Wagner defeated MU 8979. Saturday the Blue and White travel to Maryland to take on Mount St. Mary’s (619, 410). When these teams met before, Monmouth came out on top 7359.
Monmouth is tied with Central Connecticut State (1014, 77) and Sacred Heart (1314, 77) for sixth in the NEC. CCSU travels to Robert Morris (198, 104) later this week. Sacred Heart heads to LUI Brooklyn for a matchup with the first place team in the conference.
With CCSU and Sacred Heart having tough matchups this week, the Hawks could take a big step forward and improve their conference standing.
