Box Score JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Monmouth downed Saint Peter's 63-58 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) men's basketball action on Thursday.
Desi Washington (13-15, 7-10 MAAC) paced the Peacocks with 17 points. Quadir Welton (Philadelphia, Pa./Math, Civics and Science Charter) added 11 points and Marvin Dominique (Miramar, Fla./Miramar) chipped in 10 points in the loss.
Deon Jones powered the Hawks (16-12, 12-5 MAAC) with 23 points. Justin Robinson recorded 11 points and Max DiLeo posted 10 points in the winning effort.
Monmouth took the lead with a basket to end the first half and never trailed again to end a four-game losing streak against Saint Peter's and end the Peacocks seven-game home winning streak in the month of February. Saint Peter's went 5-0 in month in 2014 and then won its first two tilts at the Yanitelli Center before its loss on Thursday.
After the Peacocks rallied from an 11-point margin to tie the game at 23 with 34 seconds left in the first half on a Tyler Gaskins (Roswell, Ga./Centennial) 3-pointer, Jones hit a jumper as time expired to give the Hawks a 25-23 lead going into the locker room.
Monmouth extended its lead to 29-24 with 16:49 left, but an Elias Desport (Stockholm, Sweden/Solna Gymnasium) layup at 16:14 and a Washington 3-ball at 13:02 helped Saint Peter's score five of the next six points to trim the margin to 30-29.
The Hawk extended the lead to six points, but it was a 6-0 run with Monmouth holding a four-point advantage that stretch the lead to 43-33 with 7:50 on the clock.
Saint Peter's used an 8-2 run to cut the margin to 45-41 with 5:14 left thanks to five points from Washington.
Monmouth answered with a DiLeo layup at 4:42 and two freebies by Jones with 4:11 left to push the lead back to 49-41 and the Peacocks could not get any closer than four points the rest of the way.
Fueled by eight points by Jones, the Hawks opened the game by scoring 13 of the first 15 points to grab a 13-2 advantage with 11:45 left in the half.
With Monmouth holding a 15-4 margin, the Peacocks used a 19-8 run over the next nine minutes to tie the game at 23 with 34 seconds left in the first half.
Travis Hester (Crozet, Va./The Miller School) started the run with a trey at 9:17. After Brice Kofane scored in the lane at 8:51, Welton recorded a tip-in basket at 6:21 and Washington drained a jumper at 5:27 to make it a six-point game.
The two teams traded baskets before Washington hit 1 of 2 at the line with 3:47 on the clock and Welton hit a jumper at 3:19 to cut the margin to 19-16.
Andrew Nicholas answered with a triple 16 seconds later, Welton hit a jumper at 2:03. Austin Tilghman made 1 of 2 at the charity stripe with 1:41 left before Saint Peter's scored the next five points to even the score at 23.
Dominique made two free throws with 75 seconds left before Gaskins tied the game at 23 with a trey with 34 seconds left only to see the Hawks score in the waning seconds of the half to go into the break with the 25-23 edge.
Dominique, the current MAAC Player of the Week, hauled in seven rebounds and Welton, who had 10 of his 11 points in the first half, had six boards. Trevis Wyche (Neptune, N.J./Saint Peter's Prep) registered five points, six assists and four rebounds in the loss.
The game was the final contest for the men's basketball team in the hOURglass Rivalry, a rivalry that pits the three teams from the Garden State against each other.
The game was broadcasted on ESPN 3 as part of the MAAC ESPN package. The squad is 0-4 in games shown on ESPN 3.
Saint Peter's returns to action when it starts a two-game road trip at Fairfield on Saturday. Game time is 2 p.m. and will be a Fairfield-produced ESPN 3 game.
