Courtesy of MonmouthHawks.com
WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Austin Tilghman (Wilmington, DE/Archbishop Carroll) made two buzzer beaters and nearly registered a triple double as Monmouth men’s basketball fell in four overtimes to Penn on Saturday night, 101-96. The four overtimes is the longest game in Monmouth basketball history, and the longest for a MAAC team since 2004.
Monmouth led by as many as five in the fourth overtime, but Penn came back to take a lead on an Antonio Woods layup. The Quakers followed that with Woods making one of two foul shots, and Ryan Betley sealing it with 10 seconds to go from the free throw line.
Ryan Betley’s triple in the third overtime put Penn up four before Monmouth cut it to two on George Papas’ (Jersey City, NJ/Union Catholic/Gould Academy) jumper and were down three after a missed free throw. With time winding down, Tilghman launched a three and hit to tie the game at the third period horn.
Neither team led by more than two in the second overtime, with MU taking the lead on a pair of foul shots from Ray Salnave (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo). Betley missed a triple for the lead with under 10 seconds remaining, but Eddie Scott followed the play to dunk one and tie the game, sending it to a third session.
Papas answered Penn’s three point lead in the first overtime with a wing three to knot things at 69, and the teams traded points inside the final minute to go to a second overtime tied at 71.
MU came charging back after trailing by 14 at the break, using a frantic run to get closer after trailing by as many as 15 in the half. A 9-0 run sparked the Hawks, with Tilghman ultimately cutting the deficit to two on foul shots at 6:20. Penn would go back up seven, but with 36.8 left, Papas nailed a corner three and was fouled. He missed the free throw that would have trimmed it to one, but there was a foul on the rebound attempt and an immediate technical foul following that on Jackson Donahue. MU made three of four free throws to lead by one, but Scott tipped one in to put Penn up and Max Rothschild later split a pair to make it 64-62. Monmouth advanced the ball, and Tilghman drove to the right and floated one up that banked in to send the game to overtime.
The Hawks jumped to a 6-0 lead, and after Penn cut into that, led by one at 7:38 after George Papas (Jersey City, NJ/Union Catholic/Gould Academy) knocked in a long two with his foot on the line. Penn responded by going on a 19-4 run and ending the opening half with a 45-31 lead, shooting 50% from beyond the arc in the first half.
NOTES AND QUOTES
“It’s a good thing that we got a lot of guys that you’re going to use to put in the games, I thought the young guys that played the major minutes did a great job.” – Head Coach King Rice
-The four overtimes marked the longest game in Monmouth Basketball history.
-MU last played three overtimes in its final season before going Division I in 1982-83, falling to Massachusetts 87-85.
-Austin Tilghman registered his first career double-double, and was two assists shy of a triple double.
-Tilghman became the second guard in two home games to record a double-double (Seaborn vs. Bucknell).
-Tilghman made two buzzer beaters, one at the end of regulation and one at the end of the third overtime.
-A MAAC team had not played four overtimes since Siena topped Youngstown State on December 14, 2004.
-Monmouth had two true freshmen go into double figures for the first time since 2/16/14, when Josh James and Zac Tillman scored in doubles.
-Melik Martin became the first Hawk to play 50 minutes in a game since Andrew Nicholas against Marist on 2/16/14.
-Mustapha Traore totaled his first career double figure game with a career-best 13 points.
-George Papas also found double digits for the first time, hitting for a career-best 16 points.
-Martin put together his first double-digit game with 13 points.
-Ray Salnave worked into double digits for the second time, netting 14 points.
-MU drops to two games under .500 for the first time in a whopping 1,063 days since December 28, 2014 against Rutgers.
-The game marked Monmouth’s first against Penn since January 2015.
-Monmouth is now 2-6 all-time against the Quakers.
-Micah Seaborn missed his second consecutive contest.
-The Hawks started with Austin Tilghman, Deion Hammond, Louie Pillari, Mustapha Traore and Diago Quinn, Monmouth’s fifth different starting lineup in six games.
NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth held Penn to 4-21 from deep after halftime.
-MU outscored Penn’s bench 51-35.
-The game featured 16 ties and 15 lead changes.
-MU held Penn to 19 second-half points, the best defensive half for the Blue and White since giving up just 16 to Rider on 2/26/16.
-Monmouth trailed by 14 at the half and 15 in the second half before battling back to force four overtimes.
-The game saw 79 fouls, two technical and a flagrant foul called.
UP NEXT
-Monmouth remains at home and takes on Albany on Monday night at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN3.
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