By Paul Gotham
ALBANY, N.Y. — For one play Saturday afternoon, King Rice and his point guard, Justin Robinson, weren’t on the same wavelength.
They still got a positive result.
Robinson led four in double figures as the Monmouth Hawks outlasted the Canisius Golden Griffins, 60-54 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference quarter-finals at the Times-Union Center.
Robinson’s leaner in the lane gave Monmouth an eight-point advantage with 3:20 remaining in the game.
“I was trying to get to the rim,” Robinson said. “They played good defense. I stepped back. I saw them jump at me. I gave a little lean in.”
With that Robinson gave Monmouth their largest lead of the second half. The 5-8 point guard wasn’t so sure of his coach’s reaction.
“I looked back on defense, and Coach Rice was giving me a stare down like boy if you would have missed that shot,” the sophomore explained. “It’s a live or die shot. I’m glad it went in or the game would have went totally different.”
“Justin, I was looking at you saying ‘thank you for making that shot,'” Rice said laughing. “I wasn’t saying any of that other stuff.”
Monmouth endured a 21-6 Canisius run which started in the first half and carried over to the second for the program’s first post-season win under Rice.
“This win is the players,” Rice said. “It’s the players. I told them all week ‘guys this isn’t the time for the coach. This is the time for the kids.’ I’ve been telling them ‘relax and play.’”
Monmouth’s defense created seven turnovers during a decisive 13-0 rally midway through the second half. Robinson started the run when he took a Andrew Nicholas lead and nailed a catch-and-shoot three-pointer from the left wing.
“We live and die with our defense,” Nicholas stated. “When we hold people to under 40 percent, we have a chance to win. They shot 38. So coach as always says ‘we hold people under 40 percent then we’re going to be in every game.’ That’s what we did today.”
Robinson’s trey was the second of three within 2:50 as the Hawks took the lead and never surrendered it. After hitting five of their first eight from behind the arc, Monmouth failed to connect from long range for the next thirteen-plus minutes. Nicholas drilled a trey in transition to break the drought, and Max DiLeo took a Robinson lead for a 42-39 edge.
“Our team just does a good job finding open spots,” Nicholas explained. “Then we’re so unselfish. We find the open guy to get great shots. I think that’s what we did really well today. We played as a team. We slowed down on offense. We got open shots. That’s why we were so successful.”
Nicholas finished with 11 points on 3 of 6 shooting behind the arc. The senior guard led a Monmouth bench which outscored their opponents 25-13.
“They shot the ball well,” Canisius coach Jim Baron said. “They got guys that can really score the ball, and they hit shots. Kids coming off the bench hit shots, I mean their guards hit shots.”
Deon Jones was fouled in the act of shooting on a pull-up jumper in transition. His free throw completed a three-point play and Robinson’s runner capped the rally for a 47-39 Monmouth lead.
“We were fortunate because our defense kept us in the game the whole time,” Rice said. “When they went on their runs, our defense stayed right there.”
Canisius grabbed a four-point advantage early in the second half. After outscoring the Hawks, 13-2 going into the locker room, Kevin Bleeker took a pair of high-low feeds from Josiah Heath and scored in the lane. Jamal Reynolds grabbed a loose ball and finished at the rim giving the Golden Griffins a 35-31 lead.
Jeremiah Williams pushed the lead to five when he used a ball screen to get in the lane for a scoop shot.
Monmouth took a timeout.
“It’s funny because usually at that time these guys brace for me to have a temper tantrum,” Rice said of the break in the action. “I told them already I said ‘guys I’m not going to do that this whole weekend.’ You’re prepared. I pushed you. I dragged you. I was hard on you. I was too hard on ya. I hugged you. I tugged you. I did everything I could possibly do to get you to this point and now it’s time for me to stand here and clap for you. Now it’s time for me to step up when we need a play or two to get a basket coming out of timeout or something like that.”
Monmouth came out with a set play, and Nicholas found Robinson open on the left wing for the trifecta.
“That’s what I think when it gets to tournament time, that’s what the coach is supposed to do,” Rice said. “If you’re struggling to get a basket, you call a play that gets you a basket. Then you turn it back over to the kids. They are the reason I have a job. Kids win games especially in March, especially in March.”
Jones added 11 for Monmouth. Collin Stewart had 10.
Williams scored a game-high 18 for Canisius. Kassius Robertson has 10.
Monmouth will meet No. 1-seed Iona in Sunday’s first semi-final.
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