WEST LONG BRANCH – Monmouth’s found its Kryptonite in the MAAC this season.
Marist came to OceanFirst Bank Center Tuesday mired in the league cellar. But that didn’t stop the Red Foxes from rolling to convincing 83-58 victory to sweep the season-series, after a 36-point win over the Hawks last month.
Monmouth fan favorite George Papas topped the 1,000-point mark on his first points of the game, coming on three free throws with 12:57 to play that pulled the Hawks within 42-36. And while there will be plenty of time to revel in the former walk-on from Union Catholic’s accomplishments, that was as close as they would get in this one.
Freshman guard Jao Ituka validated his 28-points performance in the first meeting with 25 points for Marist (9-13, 4-8), with a myriad of Monmouth defenders unable to stop him from getting to the basket. Ricardo Wright, who had 24 points in that first game, finished with 20.
“Tough night for the Hawks. Marist did that to us again,” Monmouth coach King Rice said. “That’s just a tough matchup for us. I thought we started the game okay, and then we couldn’t guard them and then they started making everything after that and we didn’t handle that very well again.”
Quick turnaround
Monmouth (15-8, 7-5) had won five of its last six since a one-point overtime loss to Iona. Now they must regroup for a Friday showdown at Manhattan, before closing a five-game, 10-day stretch with a Sunday rematch against Iona in New Rochelle, New York.
Center Walker Miller was the only Monmouth player able to score consistently, finishing with 17 points, to go with eight rebounds. Freshman guard Taron Allen and sophomore forward Myles Foster added eight points each, while Papas was held to a season-low three points.
Starting point guard Shavar Reynolds, who missed a recent game with a sore right shoulder, left the game after going down hard on his right side early in the second half and did not return.
When Papas achieved his milestone, it not only pulled Monmouth within six, it clearly energized the home crowd.
But Marist responded with a 20-4 run – a pair of Foster buckets inside were the Hawks’ only points during the stretch – as Ituka scored on a drive to give the Red Foxes a 62-40 lead with 6:54 to play. The lead eventually grew to 28 points.
Program history
Papas, a who entered the night third in the MAAC in scoring at 16 points-per-game, becomes the 26th player in program history to score 1,000 points.
“What George has meant to this program is incredible,” Rice said. “That’s for every kid out there that people told you you couldn’t be a Division I player. And not only did he earn being a Division I player, he is a scholarship guy and he scored over 1,000 points. So that’s a success story.
“With that being said, we still got a lot of ball left and he needs to be one of the best leaders on our team. And hopefully now that the scoring thing has happened he can get back to being the leader of the group.”
While Ituka eventually took the game over, it was freshman guard Noah Harris who drained back-to-back 3-pointers, after two triples by Wright, to give Marist a 17-12 lead. Monmouth got early 3-pointers from Marcus McClary and Reynolds.
After Harris scored on a drive, it was Ituka taking it to the rim and scoring back-to-back baskets to give Marist a 28-16 lead, as Rice called a 30-second timeout.
It didn’t matter, as Marist stretched to 37-22 on a score inside by Rollin Belton with 1:37 on the clock. Miller scored off an offensive rebound and Taron Allen scored on a pretty drive to cut the deficit to 11, before Ituka’s three-point play gave Marist a 40-26 edge at the break.
‘We’re greater than the sum of our parts’: Monmouth basketball vs. Marist, 3 keys
WEST LONG BRANCH – It’s difficult to rationalize what happened to Monmouth on Jan. 16 in Poughkeepsie, New York, when Marist, currently in last place in the MAAC, beat the Hawks by 36 points.
The fact that it was Monmouth’s second game back after a 23-day COVID-19 pause was clearly part of it.
But in those early games coming out of the shutdown, Monmouth’s players seemed to forget what made them so successful early in the season, when they beat a pair of high-major programs and played stunningly well on the road.
They stopped sharing the ball.
Fast forward to Sunday’s convincing victory at Quinnipiac. The ball movement was a thing of beauty. Whether on the perimeter or interior, in transition or half-court, the ball invariably found its way into the hands of someone with an open shot.
“We’re hard to stop when we’re unselfish,” said Walker Miller, who finished with 22 points. “We’re the team that the total is greater than the sum of the part and when we’re playing together each of us is better. And when we try to play one-on-one and we’re not sharing the ball, all of us are worse.”
Monmouth (15-7, 7-4) gets another shot at Marist Tuesday (7 p.m./ESPN+) at OceanFirst Bank Center. Winners of five of its last six games, Monmouth’s only loss during that span was by a point in overtime, while playing without starting point guard Shavar Reynolds, to a Niagara team that handed Iona its first MAAC loss on Sunday.
It will be a special night Tuesday, with George Papas set to go over the 1,000-point mark for his career. The former walk-on needs just two points to become the 26th player in program history to achieve the milestone.
Check back here later for complete coverage and also later this week when we’ll have more on Papas’ big night, and his career.
Here are three keys for the Hawks against Marist:
1. Home cooking
If Monmouth simply wins its five remaining home games it would have a 20-win season, and more than likely get one of the five first-round byes at the MAAC Tournament.
The point is, taking care of business on campus will be critical in the coming weeks for the Hawks. And if they can pull off a win or two away from home, it could end up being a very special season.
Monmouth is 24-7 at home over the past three seasons.
2. Contain Ituka
Marist guard Jao Ituka was unstoppable in the first meeting. The 6-1 freshman scored 28 points in 25 minutes, hitting on 7-of-11 shots from the floor, including both 3-pointers he attempted. Ituka was continually able to penetrate and get fouled, sinking 12-of-15 from the line.
From a defensive intensity standpoint, Monmouth had its most consistent game since before the COVID pause against Quinnipiac. That must continue against the Red Foxes, who also got 24 points from Ricardo Wright.
Look for Shavar Reynolds to get the assignment against Ituka early on, after leading the defensive charge Sunday.
3. More Jarvis
During a span of 3:35 that 6-9 forward Jarvis Vaughan was on the court after coming off the bench with 14:45 left in the first half Sunday, the redshirt sophomore brought both incredible energy and production.
In that short period of time, Vaughan had a steal at one end and finished if off with a score inside off a feed from Shavar Reynolds, scored off an offensive rebound and grabbed three rebounds in all.
With much of his first three seasons marked by injuries, Vaughan is finally healthy and looks like a player who could be a key contributor down the stretch.
“Jarvis makes us different,” Monmouth coach King Rice said. “Sometimes he fouls too much, sometimes he gets a little too excited. But Jarvis Vaughan is a game changer for us, and the more time he gets under his belt playing in games the better our team is going to be.”
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