The Rider Broncs were rocking at home in order to come out and try to win this serious MAAC contest. They knew that they were going to need to be strong in order to beat the Monmouth Hawks, who have had an excellent start to conference play, and they had 9 straight games against those same Hawks. If there was a monkey that the Hawks needed to get off their back, then they needed to defeat Rider, especially on their home court.
As previously mentioned, Rider got off to a hot start, Matt Lopez made a layup, and a couple of costless throws, Teddy Okereafor added a layup of his own, and Jimmie Taylor hit a three to give Rider a 9-2 lead in the first 5 minutes of the game. Monmouth staged a comeback and got within 4 points in the final minute of the quarter when Austin Tilghman hit a layup. Also, Teddy Okereafor showed up for Rider again though and hit a three point jumper as time was about to expire to extend the lead back to 7.
Justin Robinson got going in the second half and then was able to score the first 10 points in the second half for the Monmouth Hawks to keep them alive as they struggled to score. They kept going and were trying to get back against the Broncs and finally made a surge late in the game, as they were down 50-43 after another Matt Lopez layup with 6:43 remaining in the game. Deon Jones made a layup on the next Hawks possession, and they just stayed balanced as Justin Robinson, Brice Kofane, and Max DiLeo were all able to add some points to get Monmouth their first lead of the game, 53-52, with 1:39 remaining. Max DiLeo added another layup on a fast break and then fouled Zedric Sadler with just 3 seconds left to avoid an opportunity to tie. Sadler made the two costless throws and that is how the final score was achieved.
Monmouth (8-8, 5-1 MAAC) will play at home on Wednesday night against the Saint Peter's Peacocks (8-9, 2-4 MAAC). Rider (10-7, 4-2 MAAC) will travel on the road to face the Quinnipiac Bobcats (8-7, 2-4 MAAC) on Thursday.