Young Hawks take flight with big win

The Monmouth University men's basketball team expected to encounter some growing pains this season.

With a relatively young roster, the Hawks started the season 2-10, and were struggling to play consistent basketball on both ends of the floor. More importantly, they were faltering down the stretch of games, allowing opponents to overcome deficits on a seemingly regular basis.

However, a recent two-game winning streak had head coach Dave Calloway's team beginning to feel better about itself. The Hawks were starting to jell, it seemed, and appeared to be progressing in a similar way that we've seen many of Calloway's teams improve during his tenure at the West Long Branch school.

And then, the Hawks hit another bump in the road. After building a one-point halftime lead against St. Francis on Jan. 8, the Hawks watched the Terriers connect on seven of their first 10 attempts to open the second half, en route to a 73-62 comeback victory at the Pope Athletic Center.

Monmouth, which led by as many as 12 points in the first half, could not overcome the Terriers hot shooting in the second half barrage, which was led by Ricky Cadell's five second-half three-pointers.

Monmouth opened the contest with a 9-0 lead after six straight points from Mike Myers Keitt, and had pushed its advantage to 29-20 when Alex Nunner drilled a jump shot off an inbounds play with 3:07 left in the half. But St. Francis answered with two Rocco Rubino trifectas, from the same corner, to pull within 29-28 at the break.

Then once the second half began, SFC found the shooter's touch and the Hawks simply could not keep pace.

Three Hawks scored in double-figures in the loss, led by sophomore guard R.J. Rutledge's 19 points off the bench. Mike Myers Keitt connected for 13 points, while fellow freshman forward Travis Taylor added 11 points and six rebounds.

Cadell notched a game-high 20 points (6-for-9 from three-point range).

With the win, the Terriers became the third NEC squad this season to come back from a double-digit deficit for victory against the Hawks. This was beginning to become a disturbing trend for Calloway's team, as his young squad appeared to be struggling with closing teams out.

Then, on Saturday night in West Long Branch, the Hawks turned the tables, shooting 50 percent from the floor in the second half, en route to a 74-63 comeback victory over Quinnipiac. The Hawks, who trailed by nine points with 10:04 left in the game, improve to 5-13 overall, and 3-3 in league play, but more importantly, showed the ability to finish a game strongly after struggling mightily in that regard through much of the year.

Following the win, Calloway sounded as relieved as he did proud.

"The way we came back and fought through the adversity tonight proves the strides we are taking as a team," he said.

With the game tied at 54-54 with 5:13 remaining in the second half, Monmouth freshman guard Will Campbell hit a threepointer from the right wing and converted a fast break lay-up off a bounce pass from Nunner to give the Hawks a 59-54 lead with 4:14 left. MU took a 65-56 advantage after Campbell made a strong move to the rim and converted a lay-in with just over two minutes showing. Rutledge then capped off the impressive win with a twohanded dunk to push the lead to 68-58 with a minute left.

Myers Keitt and sophomore guard James Hett led the way for Monmouth early on with seven points in the first half. Nunner added six points and a pair of assists and Taylor scored five points and added four boards. The Hawks, who shot 44 percent in the first half, had 10 assists on their 11 first half field goals, compared to only five turnovers.

After the Bobcats came out of the halftime break and seized early control of the half, taking a 38-33 lead five minutes into the second period, the visitors stretched their lead to 44-36 at the 10:55 mark of the second half after Justin Rutty threw down a two-handed dunk. Meanwhile, MU made only one of their first six shots in the second half, a Yaniv Simpson left wing three.

While it appeared that the Hawks were in the midst of another second half collapse, Calloway's squad persevered and caught fire.

Taylor helped the Hawks regain some momentum when he followed up a missed shot and converted a traditional threepoint play at the 10:00 mark to cut the lead to 46-40. Freshman guard Will Campbell tied the contest at 46-46 less than two minutes later when he drained a threepointer from the right wing. Rutledge's lay-up after a steal gave the Hawks a 50- 46 advantage and capped a 13-0 Monmouth run, with 7:19 left in the contest. From there, Monmouth pulled away and earned the hard-fought victory.

While some improved shooting certainly helped spark the victory, Calloway pointed to the Hawks' defensive intensity as the main catalyst in the win.

"Our defense keyed on stopping Quinnipiac's inside game, and Dutch (Gaitley) did a great job of neutralizing [Justin] Rutty tonight," the coach said.

Taylor paced four Hawks in double figures with 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals, while Campbell added a career-high 12 points, all in the second half, to go along with six rebounds. Nunner added 11 points and five assists, while junior center Gaitley contributed 11 points and five boards.

The Hawks shot 46 percent from the floor, assisted on 19 of their 22 made baskets in the game and connected on 7-of-18 three-point field goals in the game.

With the victory, the Hawks took a tremendous stride towards becoming a winning team. Early on in the year, MU was able to remain competitive throughout much of the game, but lacked that killer instinct that separates the winning teams from the pack. On Saturday, MU showed they could close a team out when firing on all cylinders.

Monmouth returned to action on Monday when the Hawks visited in-state NEC rival Fairleigh Dickinson, and will be back in action on Thursday when Long Island University comes to town for a 7 p.m. tipoff. LIU is 8-8 on the season, but is in second place in the NEC with a 4-2 conference mark. Then, on Saturday, the Hawks will travel to Emmitsburg, Md. to face off with a Mount St. Mary's team that is 9-9 thus far, but is also 4-2 in NEC play.

These two games will certainly help determine exactly where the Hawks stand in the NEC at this point.