Men's College Basketball

Monmouth University 79, Rider University 58

WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ— The Monmouth bench has gotten a lot of publicity this season, and with good reason, for its creative and synchronized celebrations.

Friday night at Monmouth Rider again played with a very short bench, and couldn't stop the Hawks from celebrating clinching first place on national television. The Broncs were out of synch.

Monmouth (24-6, 16-3 MAAC) scored the first nine points of each half and won by 21 in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game Friday night on ESPN2.

“Just a poor performance,” said Rider head coach Kevin Baggett, “defensively, individually, from top to bottom we were out of synch.”

Freshman Micah Seaborn scored 19 points to lead Monmouth.

This is just the fourth time Monmouth has beaten Rider in the last 16 meetings, with the other three wins all being by a single point, including a 79-78 Hawk win at Rider two weeks ago.

“Monmouth is playing well right now and we are not,” Baggett said. Monmouth has won 10 of its last 11 games. The loss was Rider's third in a row and fifth in the last six games. “We're leaking oil, big time,” Baggett said.

Rider (11-19, 7-12 MAAC) out-scored Monmouth 10-4, six points by freshman Kealen Ives (Providence, RI/Classical), to cut the lead to 67-51 with 7:30 left to play. That was as close as the Broncs could get.  Ives finished with 13 points

Monmouth scored the first nine points of the second half, seven points by Seaborn, to take a 53-32 lead.

Rider out-scored Monmouth 12-5 over the final 3:30 of the first half, five points by junior Jimmie Taylor (Branford, Fla./Suwannee), to cut the Hawk lead to 44-32 at halftime. Taylor finished with nine points and now has 998 for his career.

Monmouth used a 12-2 run to take a 33-16 lead with 6:00 left in the first half.

Monmouth scored the first nine points of the game, four by Josh James, and led 24-14 midway through the first half.

Also for Rider, junior Kahlil Thomas (Parkway, Fla./Blanche Ely) compiled 16 points and eight rebounds.

Rider shot just 37.9 percent from the field, compared to 50.8 percent for Monmouth. The Hawks out-rebounded Rider 41-33.

The game was part of the hOURglass Rivalry series between Rider, Monmouth and Saint Peter's. Since all three New Jersey universities are about an hour from each other, the three institutions compete in various sports for the overall hOURglass Champion. The spelling is because “it is OUR rivalry.”

Rider will play the regular season finale Sunday, February 28 at 6pm on ESPN3 vs. Manhattan. Four graduating players will be honored at 5:45pm.

The Broncs will compete in the first round of the MAAC Championship Tournament March 3 in Albany, NY.

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