Monmouth fights, but falls short at St. John’s

Shavar Reynolds scored 25 points as Monmouth battled back in narrow defeat to St. John’s. (Photo by Monmouth University Athletics)

NEW YORK — For better or worse, Monmouth basketball under King Rice has always been defined as a scrappy, resilient unit that has stood toe-to-toe with every opponent, regardless of name or conference. Sometimes, the Hawks have walked away from those fights with their collective hand raised, other times, not so much.

But no matter the result, the common denominator of Monmouth leaving its best basketball on the floor has been a perpetual constant, and was again Thursday night against a St. John’s team hopeful of continuing its uptick since a 20-point loss to Kansas last Friday.

Trailing by as many as 14 points midway through the second half, the Hawks gradually chipped away at the Red Storm’s advantage, drawing within two points twice in the final minute of regulation. But a savvy deflection on a rebounded free throw gave the ball back to St. John’s in the closing seconds and enabled the hosts to salt the game away with a new lease on life, narrowly eking out an 88-83 victory at Monmouth’s expense inside Carnesecca Arena.

“I’m super happy about how my kids fought in a Big East building,” a matter-of-fact Rice assessed. “A couple of bounces differently, and we win the game. It shows that we won’t quit, we can play against a team that’s bigger and stronger at every spot. We showed we can play with a Big East school in their building.” 

Monmouth (7-2) received 25 points from Shavar Reynolds, tying the career-high mark he set last month in a win at Saint Joseph’s, with 19 of those markers coming in the opening stanza. And with Walker Miller stymied by first-half foul trouble, Myles Foster gave an effort beyond his years to amass 13 points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes, as well as plaudits from a proud head coach.

“Myles is really growing up,” Rice said, effusive in his praise of his sophomore forward. “He can really play, we’re working on getting him in better shape every single day, but his maturity level is happening before our eyes. We know he’s going to be here three more years after this, but he’s a kid that can really play and is getting better daily.”

Reynolds’ role as the catalyst in the first period was even more vital considering the difficulty George Papas faced in getting into a rhythm, as the senior endured a 2-for-12 shooting night while being face-guarded by Montez Mathis for the majority of the evening. Reynolds’ veteran poise not only kept the Hawks within earshot going into the intermission, but helped Marcus McClary find his own scoring touch in the second half to further galvanize the visitors in their comeback from a 67-53 deficit with just over ten minutes remaining in the contest.

“Shavar is just such a good player,” Rice said of Reynolds. “He's an incredible leader. If I was any team around the country, I would look into having that kid on my team. The leadership that he has shown this program, and I know what he did up at Seton Hall, and now he’s showing you he can score the ball on top of leading a team, and he probably was even better than I thought.”

St. John’s appeared to have iced the game with 3:32 to play and an 81-70 cushion, but two missed free throws by freshman O’Mar Stanley set the stage for an 11-2 run by the Hawks — fueled by Miller, McClary and Papas, the latter of whom drew a foul on Mathis on a 3-point attempt and proceeded to make all three shots — to have a chance to win or tie in the final seconds.

Following traded layups by Dylan Addae-Wusu and Reynolds, Addae-Wusu headed to the foul line looking to clinch the game with St. John’s leading, 85-83. The sophomore made the first free throw, but missed the second, however, Nikkei Rutty’s rebound attempt was deflected out of bounds by Posh Alexander, who threw the ball off Rutty’s leg. The initial replay angle appeared to reveal that Alexander touched the ball last, but lead official Brian O’Connell confirmed the call after a review, and Alexander provided two final free throws shortly thereafter.

“I thought Posh did a great job getting it, but I thought he stepped out of bounds when he saved it,” Rice recollected. “We’re going to learn from it. We’re going to watch. You have to give St. John’s credit. When we went zone, they made it every time. That was impressive by them and they kind of torched our zone from three, but we’re right there in the game and we’ll lick these wounds and get ready for another high-major game on Sunday.”

As Monmouth heads to Pittsburgh Sunday for a meeting with Jeff Capel’s Panthers, it descends upon the Steel City just seven points away from a 9-0 record. Having already made a name for itself with a road win at Cincinnati two weeks ago, the Hawks are not being taken lightly, and are hitting the right notes through a non-conference season and opening sweep of the difficult Buffalo trip to open Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play, much to the delight of Rice and his vision for the remainder of the season.

“I’m happy with where our program is, (and) I’m happy with the way we’ve come out and played,” he proclaimed. “We don’t come in your building and hold the ball because you’re high-major, we don’t try to scheme this and scheme that. We play Monmouth basketball wherever we go. Tonight, we fell a bit short, but we’ll clean it up.”