QUINN’S BIG WEEK CONTINUES AS MU GRABS FIRST MAAC WIN

WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Diago Quinn (New York, NY/Lake Forest Academy) continued his stellar week, finishing with 19 points and eight rebounds as Monmouth University's men's basketball grabbed its first MAAC win of the season, topping Saint Peter's University 61-44 Saturday. MU held the Peacocks to 20 first-half points and freshman Samuel Chaput (Longueuil, Quebec/Saint Anthony's) scored in double figures for the first time in his career in the Hawks win. The victory, which improved MU to 2-13 and 1-1 in league play and dropped SPU to 4-9, 1-1 in conference, saw the Hawks build a lead with a 13-4 spurt coming out of the locker room. Included in that stretch were triples from Ray Salnave (Elmont, NY/Benjamin N. Cardozo) and Deion Hammond (Mitchellville, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) to extend the lead to 14. The Peacocks would not be inside single digits again, as MU steadily added to the lead from the foul line before a Nick Rutherford (Indianapolis, IN/Allen/Florida Atlantic) steal and breakaway finish made it a 20-point game. The Monmouth advantage grew to as many as 23 on Chaput's first career triple, with the final score settling at 61-44 in favor of the Hawks. After Saint Peter's opened the game with an 11-2 lead, Monmouth responded with a run of their own, capped by Melik Martin (York, PA/York Catholic) tying things with a three from straight on. Chaput's second acrobatic finish of the half made it a six-point game, with the Blue and White eventually taking a five-point lead to the locker room. NOTES AND QUOTES "I'm super happy for these young men and I'm super happy for the fans. They came out and supported us today and that was incredible. I walked out to the court and saw so many people here supporting our team. That's a credit to Monmouth University, that's a credit to the fans of the basketball program and the fans of the school. Everyone knows our record is not what we want it to be right now and the fans came out and supported these young men and it made such a difference." – Head Coach King Rice "To come right back after a hard day of practice starting at 8 o'clock in the morning yesterday, to come back and do what our kids did today is a credit to them and I'm so happy for them because I've been telling them if they keep working hard, this will turn around." – King Rice -Diago Quinn scored at least 19 points for the third game in a row, finishing one off his career high of 20. -Quinn finished the week a rebound shy of averaging a double-double in the three games. -Samuel Chaput scored in double digits for the first time in his career, doing so by knocking in his first career three pointer. -The Hawks have beaten Saint Peter's four times in a row in West Long Branch. -Salnave's six assists were one shy of his season high of seven, coming at Hofstra. -Quinn's nine free throws made were the most by a Hawk this season. -All 15 Hawks on the roster saw action for the second game in a row. -Diago Quinn started his second game of the season, and first since December 1 at Bucknell. -The 44 points allowed was the lowest by the Hawks this season. -MU allowed just 20 first-half points, tied for the best half for Monmouth defensively (Princeton, 1st). -Monmouth allowed just 15 field goals, the least this year. NUMBERS CRUNCH -Monmouth outshot Saint Peter's from the field 44.7% to 33.3%. -MU topped SPU off the bench, 25-5. -The Hawks outscored Saint Peter's in the paint, 24-18. -MU outrebounded the Peacocks, 35-26. UP NEXT -Monmouth hits the road to take on Quinnipiac on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m.