Courtesy of MonmouthHawks.com
COLUMBIA, SC- Monmouth’s men’s basketball team came back from an 18-point second half deficit at South Carolina Tuesday night and took two leads in overtime before falling 70-69 on a 14-foot tip-in by PJ Dozier at the buzzer. MU got a double-double from Chris Brady (Greenlawn, NY/Harborfields), the second of his career, and put three more in double figures.
Trailing by four with 2:44 to play in regulation, Brady tapped one back and at 1:32, Je’lon Hornbeak (Arlington, TX/Grace Prep/Oklahoma) pulled a deep two to tie it at 58. Sindarius Thornwell and Micah Seaborn (Fort Worth, TX/Prime Prep Academy) traded foul shots in the final 30 seconds to send the game to the extra session.
MU went down three in overtime before Seaborn drilled a three to tie it, and Josh James’ (Greenburgh, NY/Archbishop Stepinac) first points of the season came at 1:40 to tie it at 66. Hornbeak netted a pair from the foul line to put Monmouth up one with 1:02 to go, but South Carolina got the ball to Dozier at the horn for the tip in to win it, 70-69.
South Carolina opened both halves on scoring runs, but Collin Stewart (Glenville, NY/Mekeel Christian Academy) banged home a second-chance triple to get the Hawks going in the second half before starting the road back. Monmouth trailed 40-22 at the 15:23 mark before mounting a 27-8 run to take the lead on Diago Quinn (New York, NY/Lake Forest Academy)’s put back with 6:52 to go.
NOTES AND QUOTES
“Frank Martin has been a friend to me for the last 15 or 20 years and I have all the respect in the world for Frank,” said head coach King Rice. “I try to learn from him a lot. His team tonight guarded us tonight in a way I didn’t think anybody could guard our team.”
“You have to give those kids credit, they hit a shot like they hit, they made one more play than us and their kids are great kids,” said Rice. “I feel connected to this program because of Rick Callahan and Eddie Fogler.”
“All you have to do is watch their kids’ reaction, because they knew they were in a big time fight,” added Rice.
“Coach Rice told me to go and get one and I thought I had a good look,” said senior guard Justin Robinson. “I was guarded by Duane Notice and I got a clean look and he got a good piece of it from behind. If he didn’t get a piece of it, it was going in.”
-Justin Robinson went into double figures with 11 points for the 54th time in 60 games.
-Chris Brady played in his 103rd consecutive game, the active career leader and 29th all-time at MU.
-Justin Robinson started his 96th game, 10th all-time at Monmouth.
-Monmouth has not lost consecutive games since February 26, 2015.
-Monmouth has been above .500 since January 15, 2015.
-Tonight marked the second time the Hawks have played South Carolina, and the fifth time MU has matched up with an SEC school. King Rice coached against his second SEC opponent and first since he faced Vanderbilt in his first season, 2011, after spending five seasons as an assistant there.
-MU started a lineup of Robinson, Seaborn, James, Hornbeak and Brady for the second straight game and sixth time overall, doing so in a four-game stretch from 2/21 through 3/4 last year when Deon Jones was out with a hand injury.
NUMBERS CRUNCH
– Brady notched his second career double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.
-Brady set a career-high in points with 17 and field goals made with seven.
-Hornbeak tied a career-best with nine rebounds, previously set in last year’s NIT First Round vs. Bucknell.
-Hornbeak was the only player in the game to take more than two foul shots that was perfect from the line (7-7).
-Monmouth lost its first overtime game of the season after going 2-0 in the extra session a season ago.
-The Hawks used a 27-8 second half run to turn an 18-point deficit into a two-point lead.
-MU got 55 of 69 points from the starting five.
-Monmouth forced 20 turnovers and came away with 15 steals.
-Freshman Sam Ibiezugbe posted a career-high in his second game with six rebounds.
-Monmouth shot 85.2% from the foul line (23-27), and 15-16 in the second half.
-The Hawks held the Gamecocks to 33.8% FG and 30.4% from deep.
-MU outran SC on the fast break 10-0.
–Chris Silva had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds for South Carolina.
-Sindarius Thornwell led the game with 23 points.
UP NEXT
-Monmouth heads to Syracuse Friday night to take on the Orange at 7:00 p.m. The game will air on ACC Network Extra and on the WatchESPN app.
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