Monmouth held off a late charge by the Norfolk State men’s basketball team on Wednesday evening, earning a 75-71 in the Fort Myers Tip-Off Tournament at OceanFirst Bank Center.
The Spartans never led in the second half, and just once in the game, but kept it within 10 points the entire time, including within a single possession on several occasions. But in the end, the Spartans could not take advantage of a big edge on the glass and could not overcome more than 20 turnovers.
NSU (3-5) had three players score in double figures, with sophomore Joe Bryant Jr. tallying 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting with five rebounds. Senior Jermaine Bishop added 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including four 3-pointers. He was also one of four players to lead the team with six rebounds.
In addition, senior Steven Whitley sank 6-of-14 for 13 points with seven assists and six boards. He helped the Spartans shoot 44 percent for the game and hold a 45-25 edge in rebounds.
Monmouth (4-5) was led by Deion Hammond with 24 points on 8-of-18 shooting with six rebounds. The only other player in double figures for the Hawks, who had 10 players make a field goal, was Mustapha Traore with 10 points and six boards.
The Hawks started the game off with a 12-6 lead. Junior Efstratios Kalogerias had a couple of buckets as NSU scored seven straight for that first and only lead of the game. But the Hawks came right back and pushed their advantage to eight with eight minutes to go in the half.
The Spartans cut it to three on sophomore Chris Ford’s layup with 6:37 to go in the half, and Whitley made it a one-point ballgame with a tip-in off his own miss a few minutes later. Monmouth, however, went into the half up 38-33.
The Hawks pushed the lead to nine early in the second half, but Bishop made a pair from deep to cut the lead to 49-46 with 14 minutes left in the stanza. Monmouth scored six in a row for the first double-digit lead of the game before two more buckets by Bishop started a 13-4 run for the Spartans.
Bryant had a pair of shots fall during that time, as Monmouth’s lead dwindled to just 63-62 with five minutes on the clock. Another layup by Bryant made it a three-point game with 1:25 to go after the Hawks had been up by eight. They had to sweat it out in the end, as Whitley’s layup with 8.0 seconds to go made it a two-point ballgame before two final free throws.
NSU outscored the Hawks 20-2 in second-chance points and 36-24 in points in the paint. But the Spartans committed 22 turnovers for the night.
Monmouth shot 48 percent for the game, including 8-of-22 from deep. Bishop had four of NSU’s seven treys.
NSU will return home to host Niagara on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Joseph Echols Hall, the team’s only home game in the month of December.
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