Things are falling in the right places in the Monmouth men’s basketball team’s bid to make it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006.
The Hawks beat Drexel 65-57 in Washington in the quarterfinals of the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament Sunday, March 8 – just hours after the tournament’s No. 1 seed was knocked out. Fourth-seeded Monmouth will instead play No. 9 Campbell Monday in the semifinals (6 p.m., CBS Sports Network).
The tournament winner gets a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Stefanos Spartalis and Jason Torres-Rivera led Monmouth (18-14) with 14 points apiece and Justin Ray added 11 points.
Monmouth had a tournament double-bye and played its first game in a week; Drexel (17-16) played the previous day and had to fend off a potential comeback before beating Northeastern. Still, Drexel came out of the gate hot hitting three straight 3-pointers but the Dragons’ offense cooled off towards the end of the first half.
The tides began to change to Monmouth’s favor late in the second half. The game was tied at 48-48 with 8:56 left. Monmouth forced turnovers and made shots during a 13-1 run that produced a 56-49 led with 2:18 left.
Monmouth trailed 33-32 at halftime. Drexel started the game hot from deep with a 9-2 lead and at one point led by 11 points.
The Hawks went on a 14-2 run over a span of 7-plus minutes to take the lead but then went cold and didn’t score for the last 2:09 of the half. A Drexel basket produced another lead change and capped the first half scoring.
This is a breaking story. Check back for more details.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth beats Drexel in CAA Tournament, keeps March Madness hopes alive