MU B-Ball Report: 2/16/12

The Monmouth Hawks enter the final two weeks of the regular season needing one win and one loss by both Mount St. Mary’s and Saint Francis (Pa.) to clinch a berth in the Northeast Conference Tournament.

This week, MU visits Wagner, who has all but solidified the #2 seed in the conference tournament, on Thursday and Mount on Saturday. The Hawks are playing some of their best basketball of the season as of late, winning two in a row and five of their last six. The Hawks are 7-7 in the league right now and are currently in a three-way tie for sixth with Sacred Heart and CCSU, who the Hawks both hold tiebreakers with.

On Thursday Monmouth will try to snap the Seahawks six-game winning streak at the Spiro Sports Center. Wagner is a league-best 21-4 overall and boasts a NEC-best RPI of 73. Thursday night will be a raucous environment in Staten Island and should be a good game. Last time the two teams met on January 7, MU fell to the Seahawks, 89-79 despite 20 points from Jesse Steele.

The Hawks then take to the road on Saturday for a 7pm game at Mount St. Mary’s, a notoriously difficult place to play. The Mount could be a desperate team depending on Thursday night’s outcome as they have pretty much no room for error for the rest of the season.