In front of a sellout crowd of 3,911 for the second time in three home games this season at The MAC, the Monmouth men’s basketball team beat Quinnipiac 88-74 behind Chris Brady (Greenlawn, NY/Harborfields)’s first career double-double and a career-best 20 points from Micah Seaborn (Fort Worth, TX/Prime Prep Academy). The Hawks improve to 11-4 and 3-1 in conference while the Bobcats drop to 5-9 and 2-3 in the league.

“At some point we’ve been able to figure things out this year and come out on top,” said head coach King Rice. “It was a tough win for us today.”

Monmouth never trailed in the second half, only allowing QU within one once and within three with 11:08 to go on a Chaise Daniels layup. Deon Jones (Wilmington, DE/Sanford School [Towson]) muscled one home shortly after and Austin Tilghman (Wilmington, DE/Archbishop Carroll [PA]) got up the floor and put one home from the right side, drawing a foul. Into the timeout, Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore received a technical foul, and Justin Robinson (Lake Katrine, NY/Kingston) hit one of those to extend the lead to eight. Jones again scored from the inside to bump the lead to 10 with 8:45 remaining.

Quinnipiac hung within that range the rest of the way, getting no closer than seven with 4:33 to play on two Giovanni McLean free throws. Brady collected on the offensive glass and put one back with 3:37 left to widen the gap to 11, and MU knocked in 19 free throws in the final 3:00 to secure the win.

MU got an immediate baseline dunk from Brady just 10 seconds into the second period. Seaborn rattled home a jumper before Harris got QU within one from the foul line at the 16:24 mark. Seaborn stayed hot, racing the floor to score plus the foul to extend Monmouth’s lead to four, 44-40.

Monmouth led 37-35 at the break after strong bookends to the first half, opening up on a 12-0 push and closing with eight of the last 10 heading to the locker room. Robinson drilled a left-wing three 39 seconds in and was fouled, converting the four-point play before getting inside and drawing contact for a three-point play moments later. Seaborn drilled a three in between the Robinson plus-ones, and MU led 12-0 just 2:51 into the game.

Quinnipiac answered back with a 19-3 run to take a 19-15 lead on a Daniel Harris three with 11:08 to go in the half. QU led for the next nine minutes until the 2:16 mark, when a Zac Tillman (Yeadon, PA/Shipley School) dunk tied the game at 32. MU closed the half with a pair of free throws and a corner three from Seaborn to take a two-point lead after 20 minutes.

Four Hawks worked into double-figures, including Brady, whose 16 points and 13 rebounds were both career bests in addition to three blocks. Seaborn tied a career-high with 20 points and added in six rebounds, while Robinson put in 15 points and dished out four assists. Deon Jones scored 11 points, all in the second half, and grabbed nine boards of which seven came in the second 20 minutes. Collin Stewart (Glenville, NY/Mekeel Christian Academy) added nine points while Tillman had seven. MU shot 37.1% from the field, 33.3% from deep and 76% from the foul line while holding QU to 33.3% from the floor and 34.6% from downtown.

Harris hit five threes for the Bobcats and finished with 19, while McLean scored all of his 15 points in the second half. Abdulai Bundu pitched in a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards. Quinnipiac outrebounded Monmouth 50-46, with MU grabbing 35 defensive rebounds to the Bobcats’ 34. The Hawks outplayed QU in the paint 34-26 and 11-3 on the fast break. The win marks Monmouth’s first over Quinnipiac since 1/2/10.

Monmouth is back to the floor on Monday night at Webster Bank Arena to take on Fairfield. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m. on SNY and ESPN3.

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