WEST LONG BRANCH, New Jersey – The Marist men's basketball team was defeated at Monmouth, 72-62, in the finale of a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference series on Sunday afternoon. The Hawks swept the two-game set.
 

Summary

• A Marist scoreless stretch of 3:04 enabled Monmouth to grab a 13-6 lead after six minutes.
• A basket by Myles Foster at the 8:31 mark of the first half gave Monmouth its first double-digit lead at 21-11.
• The Red Foxes answered with a 12-6 spurt over the next 3:56, which trimmed their deficit to four.
• Monmouth closed the first half on a 12-1 run, and took a 39-24 lead to the locker room.
• A three-pointer by Deion Hammond with 17:46 remaining extended Monmouth's lead to 19, but Marist then responded with a 6-0 run.
• With 8:09 to play, a jumper by Ricardo Wright brought the Red Foxes to within eight at 57-49. However, that was the closest Marist came in the second half. Monmouth answered with a 15-3 run to take its largest lead at 20 before the Red Foxes scored the game's final 10 points.

 

Key Stats

• Hakim Byrd led three double-digit Marist scorers with 11. Byrd also had five assists and three steals.
• Matt Herasme and Jordan Jones added 10 apiece.
• Victor Enoh grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.
• Monmouth's Deion Hammond had game highs in points (21) and rebounds (nine).
• Monmouth shot 10-for-25 (.400) from three-point range, while Marist shot 3-for-27 (.111).

 

Notes

• Jones' five blocked shots were a career high. He had previously blocked four on two occasions, most recently on Jan. 2 against Niagara.
• Herasme's 10 points were a season high.
• Byrd made his first career start, as all three Marist freshmen – Byrd, Wright, Javon Cooley – appeared in the opening lineup.
• This is the first time Marist was swept in a MAAC series this season.

 

From Coach Dunne

"I'm more encouraged today than I was 24 hours ago with our team," head coach John Dunne said. I thought yesterday we took a few steps backward as a group, and I thought today we took a few steps forward even though we came up short. I thought we were a little more cohesive today, we played for each other a little more, and we executed better on both ends on the floor."
 

Records

• Marist is 6-4 overall and 4-4 in the MAAC.
• Monmouth is 4-5 on the season and 4-4 in conference play.

 

Up Next

• Marist is scheduled to return to action with a two-game series next weekend against Fairfield at McCann Arena.
• The Red Foxes and Stags will meet on Friday, Jan. 15 and Saturday, Jan. 16. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. both days.
• Friday's game will be shown live on ESPN+, and Saturday's game will be on ESPN3.