ALBANY — It no longer matters Monmouth won the MAAC regular-season championship. It no longer matters the Hawks knocked off Notre Dame, USC, UCLA and Georgetown and became the mid-major darlings of the nation because of a bench more recognizable than most of the sport’s stars. A season in the spotlight isn’t preparation for the pressure of March.
Facing the prospect of their memorable season vanishing into irrelevance, the top-seeded Hawks struggled through their worst offensive performance of the season Friday night, but kept college basketball’s favorite story going with a 59-48 win over eighth-seeded Rider in the MAAC tournament quarterfinals at the Times Union Center.
Having just watched three-time defending America East champion Albany upset in its first tournament game Wednesday, Monmouth coach King Rice knows how quickly everything the team has built can crumble.
“I almost couldn’t believe it, but I went in the next day and told my kids, ‘Guys, Albany’s won it three times. They thrive this time of the year,’ ” said Rice, who was named MAAC Coach of the Year on Friday. “I just tried to put it in their minds, like, ‘Guys, if you don’t show up, we will get beat by Rider by a bunch.’ ”
Monmouth (26-6) allowed the upset to be entertained by shooting under 32 percent from the field and had a 22-point lead trimmed to six with less than eight minutes to play. MAAC Player of the Year Justin Robinson scored nine points on 1-of-12 shooting and MAAC Rookie of the Year Micah Seaborn scored 14 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
The Hawks’ defense, on the other hand, was dominant, forcing 21 turnovers to keep their NCAA Tournament at-large bid alive and secure their 12th win in the past 13 games.
“We’re not gonna win games here, let alone a championship, if we don’t step up on the defensive end,” said Robinson, who had eight steals. “It was a good wake-up call for us. … Every game is win-or-go-home now.”
The favorite came out flat, and Rider briefly led 6-2 in the opening minutes as the Hawks went more than 4 ¹/₂ minutes without scoring. Nevertheless, Rice remained carefree and confident, smiling and slapping hands with his players as they jogged off the floor for the first media timeout.
After the break, Monmouth’s defense took over, holding Rider (13-20) to three points in a span of more than 11 minutes and spurring a 19-2 edge in points off turnovers to give the Hawks a 32-16 halftime lead.
“I think our nerves calmed down on the defensive end,” Rice said. “I told the kids at halftime I’ve been waiting for a game for our defense to totally carry us. I’ve been waiting for that to happen.”
Monmouth next plays in Sunday’s semifinal against the winner of Saturday’s game between No. 4 St. Peter’s (14-15) and No. 5 Fairfield (18-12).
