Monmouth Offense Explodes, Tops Iona 110-102

Justin Robinson (Lake Katrine, NY/Kingston) scored a career-high 29 points and Monmouth put five in double-figures in scoring 110 points for the first time since 1994 in a 110-102 win over Iona Friday night. Monmouth hit 13 second-half threes and scored 66 in the half to improve to 13-4 and 5-1 in conference, while Iona falls to 9-7 and 6-1 in the league.

“I truly thought that was a very good college basketball game,” said head coach King Rice. “There were lots of high-level players in the game. This was a big win for our program.”

With 14:32 remaining in the game and Monmouth leading 64-62, Collin Stewart (Glenville, NY/Mekeel Christian Academy) knocked home four threes in 1:25, including a pair consecutively 18 seconds apart from the same spot in the right wing. That pushed the MU lead to 13 at 76-63, and it extended to 16 when Micah Seaborn (Fort Worth, TX/Prime Prep Academy) knocked home a triple 19 seconds after Stewart’s fourth. All told, MU hit five long balls in 1:44 and led by 16, 79-63 with 12:48 left. The lead grew to 20 at 9:25 on a straight-on three from Deon Jones (Wilmington, DE/Sanford School [Towson]).

MU continued to lead, getting a slam dunk from Chris Brady (Greenlawn, NY/Harborfields) and a trey from Robinson to keep the lead at 19, 91-72 at 8:21 and up to 20 shortly after on a Josh James (Greenburgh, NY/Archbishop Stepinac) free throw. Iona trimmed it to 14 on a jumper from Jahaad Proctor and a layup by A.J. English. With 5:39 remaining, Proctor drove inside and was fouled by Brady. A flagrant foul and technical were assessed to Brady, and Proctor made four free throws to cut the MU lead to 10.

The Hawks twice built the lead back to 15, doing so on Robinson’s breakaway layup after a steal with 2:18 to go and again with 1:33 left on a Robinson runner in the lane. Iona answered with an 8-0 run to slice the margin to seven on a three-point play by Rickey McGill and five English points. After Robinson made two free throws, Iona cut it to five on a scoop from English with 34 seconds left. Austin Tilghman (Wilmington, DE/Archbishop Carroll [PA]) converted one-of-two from the stripe and Robinson hit two more and Monmouth bested Iona 110-102, snapping the Gaels’ 26-game winning streak at home.

Early in the second half, Monmouth tied the game on a James wide-open corner three, knotting the contest at 53. Seaborn put one in with 17:29 to go to give Monmouth the lead for the final time. Iona cut it to one multiple times before Stewart’s run.

A back-and-forth first half saw Monmouth lead by as many as ten with 5:01 remaining on a Seaborn basket, and again by eight on Jones’ bucket at 1:51. Iona closed the half with a 9-0 spurt to take a 45-44 lead into the locker room, the final seven from English.

Robinson led MU with a career-best 29 points, his 10^th game this season of 20 or more points on 7-12 shooting and a perfect 12-for-12 from the foul line. Jones netted 18 on 7-of-11 from the floor, and Seaborn scored 15 on 6-9. James posted his highest scoring output since 2/22/14 as a freshman with 14 points and six boards. Je’lon Hornbeak (Arlington, TX/Grace Prep [Oklahoma]) added nine, while Brady had a team-best seven boards and Seaborn pitched in six assists. MU shot 58.1% from the field, 59.1% from the outside and 78.1% from the line.

English put in a game-high 45 points for Iona on 16-26 shooting, and was joined by Jordan Washington in double-figure with 21 and Isaiah Williams, who has 13. Washington grabbed eight rebounds as Iona shot 45.5% from the field and 28.2% from deep. Monmouth’s bench outscored Iona’s 30-17.

The Hawks are back in action on Monday afternoon against Siena. Tip is set for 4:00 p.m. on ESPN3.