Monmouth downs Georgetown 83-68

WASHINGTON, DC – For the first time in program history, Monmouth downed a Big East opponent on Tuesday night at the Verizon Center, defeating Georgetown 83-68.

Monmouth led by ten or more from the 17:57 mark of the second half on, and got a double-double from senior guard Deon Jones (Wilmington, DE/Sanford School [Towson]) with 13 points and 10 rebounds. The win marks the fourth for the Hawks this season over a Power Five conference school, and improves the Blue and White to 7-3 on the season. The Hoyas drop to 6-4.

“I’m so proud of my kids tonight,” said head coach King Rice. “They keep on believing in what I’m telling them. The way these young men played defense today, if we continue to do that, special things are happening with our program.”

Perhaps the biggest shot of the game came with 6:04 remaining, when Monmouth worked the ball around the edge and was unable to find an open shot. With the shot clock at one, Micah Seaborn (Fort Worth, TX/Prime Prep Academy) hoisted a left-wing triple that went down, making the Monmouth lead 65-51. MU knocked down its foul shots down the stretch to wrap up the 83-68 road win.

Monmouth extended its lead to as wide as 18, doing so twice in the second half both on Je’lon Hornbeak (Arlington, TX/Grace Prep [Oklahoma]) free throws. Hornbeak shot 15-16 from the free throw line in the game, including 13-14 in the second half. After Hornbeak made it an 18-point gap with 4:16 to go, Georgetown scored five straight, but MU shot 17-21 from the foul line in the final 5:16.

Monmouth came out of the locker room and immediately got a Jones layup on a dribble drive to go up by 14, 41-27. The Hoyas scored five consecutively, including a Reggie Cameron triple preceded by D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera jumper. Jones drilled a triple on the next trip to push the margin to 12, and after a Justin Robinson (Lake Katrine, NY/Kingston) pullup trey with 16:44 remaining, the Monmouth lead was 16. It would stay within four points of that until the 13:26 mark, when Collin Stewart (Glenville, NY/Mekeel Christian Academy) got his defender in the air and slipped left, draining a three to make the score 54-39 Hawks.

Zac Tillman (Yeadon, PA/Shipley School) drove the lane with 9:04 remaining and threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk to place the Monmouth lead back to 13 after it had been trimmed to 11. On the next trip after a one-and-done by Georgetown on an L.J. peak missed three, Jones cut left and used his left hand to finish on a strong drive, bumping the MU lead to 15 with 8:23 to play.

Monmouth jumped out to a 12-6 edge with 15:31 to play, with Jones and Hornbeak hitting triples during that stretch. The lead extended all the way to 11 with 9:45 left in the opening half, when Chris Brady (Greenlawn, NY/Harborfields) cleaned up a loose ball underneath and Robinson drilled a trey to make the score 25-14. The Hoyas cut that lead back down to five with 5:57 to go in the opening stanza on a pair of free throws from Smith-Rivera, but MU finished the half on a 10-5 spurt including a Stewart three ball to take a 39-27 lead into the half.

Hornbeak led five Hawks in double-figures, hitting 15 free throws and adding five rebounds and three assists. Jones contributed a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards, while Seaborn went 3-5 from deep en route to 13 points. Stewart had 13 points and four boards, Robinson added 12 points, four rebounds and three steals and Brady had seven points and nine rebounds.

Smith-Rivera led the Hoyas with 18 points and five steals, and Isaac Copeland had 16 points. Bradley Hayes grabbed 11 rebounds and Jessie Govan pitched in 14. Monmouth outshot Georgetown 42% to 32.8%, while the Hawks went 10-20 from deep compared to 7-29 for the home team. MU outran Georgetown 7-0 on the fast break.

The Hawks return to the floor for an in-state rivalry matchup with Rutgers. Tip on Sunday at The RAC is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on BTN Plus.