Box Score WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Monmouth defeated Saint Peter's 73-57 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) men's basketball action on Saturday.
Quadir Welton (Philadelphia, Pa./Math, Civics and Science Charter) paced the Peacocks (8-11, 6-4 MAAC) with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Antwon Portley (Lancaster, Texas/Lancaster) added 10 points in the loss. Welton has posted a double-double in three of his last four games and five times this season.
Justin Robinson powered the Hawks (17-5, 9-2 MAAC) with 18 points and Collin Stewart added 17 points in the winning effort.
Monmouth took the lead early in the first half and then withstood a couple of rallies by Saint Peter's to earn its second-straight win in the series and stay in first place. The Peacocks have lost three-straight and sit in fourth place in the league standings with a 6-4 mark.
After Portley gave Saint Peter's an 8-5 lead at 16:37 on a trey in the first half, Stewart hit three triples to power the Hawks in a 15-4 run to take a 20-12 lead with 11:51 left in the first half.
Portley helped cut the margin to five points on two free throws with 8:56 left, but Monmouth went on an 11-1 spurt to extend its advantage to 34-19 with 3:59 remaining in the stanza. The run was aided by baskets by five different players.
The Peacocks rolled off six unanswered points thanks to a layup by Welton with 2:45 left, a jumper by Patterson with two-minutes left and two charity tosses by Patterson at 1:04, but Robinson scored in the lane to give the West Long Branch program the 36-25 lead at the break.
Monmouth scored the first points of the second half to extend the margin to 13 points before Saint Peter's went on a 10-2 run to trim the deficit to 40-35 with 14:48 left.
Wyche started the spurt with a trey at 17:56 before Welton scored in the lane at 17:06. Wyche and Austin Tilghman traded baskets before Wyche drained a 3-ball at 14:48 to make it a five-point game.
Tillman stopped the run with a layup at 14:18 to start a 13-5 run to restore the 13-point lead at 53-40 with 9:49 remaining. Stewart had six points in the run to power the Hawks.
With Monmouth holding a 58-45 margin with 7:39 on the clock, Saint Peter's made one last run to cut the deficit to 58-53 with 6:24 left. The 13-2 spurt was started by a layup by Chazz Patterson (Brown Mills, N.J./Trenton Catholic) at 7:29 before Cameron Jones (Fairless Hills, Pa./Pennsbury) hit consecutive 3-pointers at 6:55 and 6:24 to trim the margin to 58-53.
The Peacocks and Hawks would trade points over the next four possessions to maintain the five-point difference, but after Welton scored in the lane with 5:25 on the clock Saint Peter's did not score again and Monmouth posted 11 points to seal the victory.
Wyche finished the game with eight points and seven assists to mark the first time since Dec. 28 against Cornell the junior did post double figures in a game while Patterson also had eight points on the night.
After winning four of the first five games in the month of January, the Peacocks have lost three straight to finish the month 4-4.
Saint Peter's begins the month of February against Iona on Monday. Tip off is 7 p.m. It will be the second meeting between the two teams in the last 10 days. The squad has posted a 13-9 record in the final two months of the season in the last two years under
John Dunne.
