Sacred Heart University Department of Athletics
Monmouth
Pioneers Roll Past Monmouth, 74-62
2/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2008
FAIRFIELD, CT - The Sacred Heart University men's basketball team ran its winning streak to eight games on Thursday night and won the 700th game in program history, following sophomore Chauncey Hardy's 18 points enroute to a 74-62 decision over Monmouth University Thursday night. The win moved the Pioneers to 14-10 overall and kept them in first place in the Northeast Conference at 11-2.
The Pioneers took the lead at 8-5 on a Hardy three two minutes into the game and would use that as part of an 18-3 run to open up the gap to 23-8 with 9:15 left in the first half. When the dust settled at the half, SHU too a 40-24 lead into the intermission.
Consecutive hoops by senior forward Brice Brooks and junior Ryon Howard to start the second half gave the Pioneers their largest lead at 44-24. Monmouth, 5-18 and 2-9, then used a 12-0 run over the next three minutes, capped by an Alex Nunner trey, to close within eight, 44-36. A three by Yaniv Simpson, who finished with a game-high 20 points with six long-range bombs, got the Hawks with five at 46-41 with 12:41 left to play.
Hardy put the Pioneers back up double digits, 55-43, with a three with 9:12 to go and it looked like his team had weathered the worst of the storm. The Hawks had other ideas another Simpson three cut the lead to six with 7:38 left, and R.J. Rutledge had Monmouth within five with a three with 5:50 to go, 57-52.
SHU turned the jets back on again and put Monmouth away with an 11-0 spurt in two minutes and lead 68-52 with 3:49 left. Senior Drew Shubik put an emphatic finish to the run with a steal and two-handed dunk.
Shubik felt the pace of the game took its toll on Monmouth. "We noticed some of their better players were breathing heavily and that's important," he said. "You want to make them run up and down the whole time and it's going to change their shots and affect their game. That's what we always try to do."
The Pioneers did something that has been a problem for them all season - they out rebounded an opponent, 38-35. "We're trying to get better at rebounding and we're trying to do that every game" said Brook. "Come playoff time, we want to be a good rebounding team."
The eight-game winning streak is a Division I best for the Pioneers, who started the season 0-6 but are 14-4 since.
"We started the season off and, well, we didn't shoot good first of all," said head coach Dave Bike. "Then, we had to change our offense and how we play. We did a little tweaking. I looked at the numbers and in those six games we had our worst turnover-to-assist ratio in almost nine years. Guys started shooting better and if you make shots, you have an opportunity to get assists and make that ratio look better."
The Pioneers will have a week off before taking on second-place Wagner College in a showdown on Staten Island on February 14 at 7 p.m.
