The Monmouth Hawks (8-17) defeated the Hampton Pirates (12-13) this past Thursday (2/6/25) at the Ocean First Bank Center by the score of 68-63. Everything seems to be clicking for the Hawks right now as the gutsy victory stretched Monmouth’s win streak to 3 games in a row just before losing to Towson. The Hawks continue to be dominant on their home court, winning 19 of their last 21 games at the Ocean First Bank Center.
Junior guard Madison Durr led the charge for Monmouth, putting up a team-high 18 points and went 8-10 from the free throw line, ending his consecutive free throws streak at 35 in a row, which is a program Division 1 record.
Sophomore forward Cornellius Robinson made a very significant impact, putting up 16 points and making 70% of his field goals attempted (7-10). Robinson also had 8 rebounds.
Junior guard Jack Collins played a key role defensively, tying a season high of 4 steals and also managed to put up 10 points.
Although the game was a tough battle throughout, Monmouth held the advantage for most of the game as Hampton only had a lead for 1:19.
The game started off neck and neck until the Hawks went on an 8-0 run after sharp shooting sophomore guard Abdi Bashir sank a three pointer with 13:21 left in the first half, giving the Hawks an 18-10 lead. Bashir scored 6 points in a row on this run.
Hampton fought back and went on a run of their own, taking a 21-20 lead over the Hawks with 8:59 left in the first half after a made free throw from junior guard George Beale.
In the last 3:44 of the first half Monmouth took control, going on a 9-2 run which allowed the Hawks to go into the half with a somewhat comfortable 42-34 lead over the Pirates.
Early in the second half a 7-0 run helped the Hawks take a 12 point lead setting the score at 57-45 with 12:02 left in the game.
Hampton would not be able to recover after putting themselves in this hole, but fought back and made things interesting after graduate guard Noah Farrakhan hit a three point shot that narrowed the Hawks lead to 67-63 with 1:03 remaining in the game.
Key defense in the final minute, including a clutch steal from Bashir with 20 seconds left, ultimately sealed the 68-63 victory for Monmouth.
After taking a tough 73-67 loss from the Towson Tigers (16-9) this past Saturday (2/8/25) the Hawks finished their four game home stand with a solid record of 3-1.
The Hawks will look to get a road victory on Thursday (2/13/25) when they travel to Long Island to take on the Stony Brook Seawolves (6-19) at Island FCU Arena at 5 p.m.
