Men’s basketball split their games this past week losing a tight battle on the road to Saint Peter’s Wednesday before continuing their undefeated season at the OceanFirst Bank Center Sunday afternoon against Rider.
Wednesday’s defeat was a tough one to swallow for the Hawks who had an opportunity to tie the game in the final seconds with a three pointer that fell just short losing by a score of 63-66. MU trailed by seven points with less than a minute to play in what appeared to be a lost cause until a three-point play from junior guard Deion Hammond brought them within one.
The Hawks’ defensive effort led them to a game-tying opportunity after forcing a turnover that set up a three-pointer from junior guard George Papas that just missed.
“We got it back together in the second half, we had a chance and a good shot at the end by one of the best shooters in the league and it just didn’t go down,” said Head Coach King Rice. “We’ve been playing high level ball for about a month now and we just got caught tonight.”
Despite the loss Hammond continued to lead all scorers with a game-high 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field and 3-of-8 from three-point range. Junior guard Ray Salnave also contributed 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 2-of-3 from three-point range.
The last Monmouth scorer in double figures was sophomore guard Samuel Chaput who recorded five field goals on the night for 12 points. This was his third time this season in double figures and fourth for his career.
“Give all the credit to Saint Peter’s,” said Rice. “Tough game, back and forth, they got away from us a couple times and we fought back and got right back in it. Their team played harder than us in the first half, that’s why we were down.”
Monmouth, and Papas especially bounced back in phenomenal fashion on Sunday afternoon as they returned home beating Rider 90-84. Papas redeemed himself after missing Wednesday’s final shot with a career-high 21 points while shooting 6-of-14 from the field and 4-of-11 from beyond the arc.
It was an equally dominant performance from Salnave who also piled in 21 points along with five rebounds and five assists on an impressive 11-of-12 shooting from the free throw line. The junior also reached a personal milestone in Sunday’s win scoring his 1,000th career point as he became just the 44th player in program history to reach that mark.
“It’s something that is a dream that came to reality,” said Salnave. “I did it in high school and it felt really good especially because of the names that are there, and now I’ve done it here and it’s really special especially when you think about the guys who are a part of it. It’s just something you look forward to.”
Salnave and Hammond are now the first pair of Monmouth teammates to join the 1,000-point club since Deon Jones and Justin Robinson did it in 2015-2016.
Sophomore forward Nikkei Rutty contributed to the win in a big way in his own regard recording his first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
PHOTO TAKEN by Karlee Sell
