Heartbreaker: Monmouth Falls to Charleston, 79-78, in OT in the CAA-Tournament Quarter Final

Monmouth’s quest to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006 ended in the same way it did last March and fell to Charleston in the quarterfinals at the CAA tournament.

This time, however, it was an absolutely heartbreaking at the CareFirst Arena in Washington, DC on Sunday, when Monmouth was unable to hold a lead in the last minute of regulation before missing a chance to tie the game in the final seconds of overtime, and fell 79-78 to the two-time defending champions.

“When you’re in a new league, to be the master, you have to beat the master,” said Monmouth head coach King Rice. “And we beat them in the regular season, and everyone in our dressing room feels like we were overwhelming them, but they got the victory so you have to give them credit.”

Monmouth (13-20), grafted sixth, was again denied somewhere in the semi-finals of Cougars, Poded Third, despite a 24-point performance by CAA leading goal scorer Abdi Bashir Jr., with the second guard’s six 3-Pointers, giving him a CAA record 127 for the season, which also tops the country.

Wild finish is taking place

Bashir’s 3-Pointer from the left wing with 42.2 seconds left in regulation gave Monmouth a 72-70 lead. But after turning out to get a stop at the defensive end, Monmouth -Guard Madison Durr Durr a loose ball down the baseline to get it only free. The ball went straight to Ante Brzovic inside for a light score and ties the game with 20 seconds back.

More: Monmouth Basketball Advances by CAA Tournament, Topping Hofstra, 65-60

After a timeout, Jack Collins, who ended with 15 points and went over 1,000 points for his career, a long, open 3-pointer in the last seconds, with the game for overtime.

In the extra session, Monmouth came within 77-76 on Durr’s driving with 55 seconds left. But after Jaret Valencia’s block stopped a brzovic shot at one end, Derrin Boyd stuck the ball away from Bashir at the other and forced a turnover that Charleston took advantage of, and got two boyd free kicks to go up 79-76 with 13.5 seconds left.

After both teams called timeouts, Monmouth started the ball who needed a 3-point. But instead the ball ended in Valencia’s hands in the paint, scored inside the last second, looking for a bad call that never came, as Hawks go a point card.

“We tried to get Jack a shot, they did a good job,” said Rice., “There wasn’t much time they defended it well and Jaret got what we tried to ask him to throw it out – a lot of contact.”

Monmouth unhappy with officially

Charleston shot 32 free throw to only 12 for Monmouth, a fact that did not go unnoticed. And while Rice was referring to the play where the ball was turned away from Durr at the end of the regulation, he refused to criticize the officials after being suspended for the first CAA game this season for comments after the game at last year’s CAA tournament.

“We had rebound, they tilted it out right to their guy,” Rice said. “Madison has been one of the best free throwers this year, which he usually secures the ball you get the bad, he hits two and the game is over. But it didn’t go that way, so we just want to give credit.

“Everyone thinks I will say something bad this year. They know what it was. They can look at the final statistics and see all the things, so I will not comment. But we feel like our kids fought hard enough to get it, and Charleston got the victory. “

Charleston got 22 points from Brzovic and moved on to face # 2 seed Unc Wilmington in Monday’s at. 20:30 semi -final. Upstart 12. Seed Delaware seems to make it four straight wins at the tournament against No. 1 Towson in the first semi -final at 1 p.m. 18.00

Milestone -Look for Collins

Collins, a junior guard, ended with 15 points for Monmouth, where he went over the 1,000 point mark for his career as he drained the other of two 3-Pointers to pull Monmouth within 32-31, with Charleston taking a 34-33 lead to the break. Collins had 18 points against Hofstra on Saturday and had 30 in a CAA tournament game two years ago.

“I thought we fought pretty hard. We played defense well, ”Collins said. “I’m just so proud of this group. Every guy on the bench, top to bottom, performed this season and had some good moments.”

The second half turned into a wild back and forth match, with Charleston coming out with a 7-0 race in the first 90 seconds, with a CJ Fulton 3-pointer giving Cougars a 41-33 benefit. But with the shot clock that wrapped down, Collins spiked a long 3-point with 12:38 back to give Monmouth a 51-48 that uncovered a 14-4 race.

Bashir made history later in half when, after stealing, he drove down downcourt and pulled up a triple, buried it to give Monmouth a 60-57 advantage with 8:33 to play and break the CAA record with its 126^Th Season’s 3-Pointer.

A couple of free kicks from Bzovic and a driving set up of Boyd put Cougars back on top and stretched to a 63-60 lead on a boyd score with 6:18 to play. Collins then hit a free kick before voting and scoring on a running set up to tie the game at 63-63 with 4:50 to play. The Hawks then grabbed the lead as Bashir dumped a pass inside the quick break that Valencia dived to put them back on top with 4:05 back.

With 2:37 back, with the shooting wall wrapped down, it was brzovic spinning inside and was buried, with Valencia called for goals for the game. Brzovic missed the free throw and left the game tied to 65-65.

Cornelius Robinson III, who scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds, scored inside to put Monmouth up in a basket where Bzovic replied at the other end to tie it back with 1:55 back.

This article originally appeared at Asbury Park Press: Monmouth Falls to Charleston, 79-78, in OT in CAA Tournament Quarters