First thoughts on Monmouth’s victory over Canisius in MAAC men’s play.
By Paul Gotham
Bench Points
Monmouth’s bench outscored their counterparts, 38-18. That’s not a typo. 73-38 = 35. Monmouth’s bench outscored their starters. Andrew Nicholas (yes, that Andrew Nicholas) led the way with 14 points. The senior guard provided a spark in the first half when the Hawks started the game hitting 2-of-12 from the floor. Nicholas hit 3-of-5 behind the arc to help pull the Hawks out of 13-point deficit and within two at half. Austin Tilghman added 11 off the pine, Collin Stewart chipped in 8. Last year, Nicholas drilled a pair of treys in the final seconds as Monmouth came from behind to beat Canisius.
5-guard lineup
Nicholas, Stewart and Tilghman joined Justin Robinson and Max Dileo in a 5-guard lineup which did nothing if it didn’t take away easy passes for the Golden Griffins. Canisius had eight helpers on 12 makes in the first half. In the second? Five dimes on ten makes. The Monmouth guards stepped into passing lanes, made the Griffs start their offense higher and lengthen passes. The pressure resulted in a decisive 15-4 run over a 5:38 span – starting with six and change remaining and ending with a minute to go.
Points off turnovers
Monmouth converted 15 Canisius turnovers into a 24-12 advantage. Robinson led the Hawks with three steals.
Lewis lights it up
Zach Lewis led all scorers with a career-high 31. His previous career best was 25 on Monmouth last year. Lewis hit 11-of-23 from the floor including 8-of-17 from behind the arc. Lewis
Handling prosperity
Canisius entered play 2-0 in the conference and on a three-game win streak.
Jim Baron on the Griffs recent success: “We start reading our clippings and thinking we’re better than we are. You can see the inexperience.”
Tilghman
The freshman guard came in averaging a little more than 13 minutes a game. Tilghman made good on his 18 minutes of play Friday night.
Monmouth coach King Rice on Tilghman: “He’s a kid I should be finding more time for.”
Going forward
Canisius (7-5/2-1) hosts Manhattan (4-8/1-2) on Sunday.
Monmouth (6-7/ 3-0) travels to Niagara (3-8/ 2-1).
Leave a Reply