Monmouth Falls to St. Francis Brooklyn 71-46

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Brice Kofane (Yaounde, Cameroon/Miller School/Providence) established a new career-high with 13 points, while Andrew Nicholas (Wrightsville, Pa./Eastern York) added seven points, five rebounds and two steals, but Monmouth University dropped a non-conference contest to St. Francis Brooklyn 71-46, on Tuesday night in the MAC.

Anthony Nicholas with the ball vs. St.Francis Brooklyn (Monmouth Athletics)

The Terriers jumped out to a 14-0 lead following back-to-back three-pointers with 12:08 left in the half, before baskets from Zac Tillman (Yeadon, Pa./Shipley School) and Nicholas got Monmouth within 14-4 with 11:13 showing. St. Francis Brooklyn pushed its advantage to 26-9 at the 4:42 mark after consecutive treys, before a 7-0 spurt from the Blue & White, which started with Kofane’s lay-in, pulled the Hawks within 26-16 with 3:00 on the clock.

Kofane’s traditional three-point play with 1:21 showing cut the deficit to single-digits, as the Hawks trailed 30-21, while a Nicholas jumper from the corner off an inbounds play with 10 seconds left got the Hawks within 32-23 at the intermission.

SFBK scored the first six points out of the break to claim a 38-23 advantage with 16:54 left, while consecutive baskets from Kofane allowed Monmouth to climb within 43-29 with 13:25 showing.

The Terriers, who hit 11 three-pointers in the game, pushed the lead to 57-37 at 6:28 on Antonio Jenifer's trey and held a 71-43 advantage on Edon Molic's triple with 45 seconds left, before Austin Tilghman (Wilmington, Del./Archbishop Carroll) connected on his first career three-pointer to close out the scoring.

Monmouth hit 37.3% (19-51) from the field, while SFBK connected on 43.4% (23-53) and 47.8% from beyond the arc (11-23).

Josh James (Greenburgh, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) notched eight points, while Tilghman registered five points, three assists and two rebounds for the Hawks.

Monmouth returns to action on Sunday, December 28 when the Hawks host in-state rival Rutgers in the MAC at 3:00 p.m., which will be broadcast on ESPN3.