Threes Send Men's Basketball Past Monmouth

Monday, December 28

West Point, NY

4 PM

Army West Point

9-3

Monmouth

9-4

Monmouth

Army West Point

Threes Send Men's Basketball Past Monmouth

December 28, 2015 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Tanner Plomb and Kyle Wilson combined for 48 points as the Army West Point men's basketball team made eight more three-pointers than Monmouth in a 91-84 victory over the Hawks on Monday afternoon at Christl Arena.

Plomb scored a game-high 27 points and Wilson poured in 21, with four three-pointers each, as Army (9-3) shot 11-for-28 from beyond the arc (39.3 percent) and held Monmouth (9-4) to a 3-for-11 effort from distance.

Kennedy Edwards added 12 points, while Larry Toomey and Kevin Ferguson scored nine apiece. Ferguson equaled his career high with 13 rebounds, while Edwards also tied his career-high of nine to help the Black Knights to a 47-41 rebounding edge.

"This was a great game between two very good basketball teams," head coach Zach Spiker said. "This game came down to getting stops and I thought we did a really good job defending the three-point line. If you can defend the three-point line and make some shots down the other end, you put yourself in a great position to have success."

Monmouth was paced by Justin Robinson's 23 points, while Collin Stewart added 12 and Micah Seaborn scored 11. As a team, Monmouth shot 45.5 percent from the floor, with 40 points in the paint.

A back-and-fourth first 20 minutes that saw eight ties and 17 lead changes concluded with a rainbow three-pointer by Plomb, who had 14 points at the break. Plomb and Wilson combined for 30 of Army's 50 points in the period and hit seven of Army's eight three-pointers to push the Black Knights to a six-point halftime cushion.

Army was 8-for-16 from beyond the arc in the period and 12-for-15 at the free throw stripe to help offset Monmouth's 52.8 percent shooting performance (19-for-36), including a 10-point showing by Chris Brady on the inside for the Hawks, who had 32 points in the paint at halftime.

The Black Knights' largest lead of the half was seven after an 8-0 run late in the period.

After a thunderous two-handed slam by Plomb off a backdoor cut and pass by Dylan Cox, Monmouth scored eight straight to tie the score at 54 early in the second half. Robinson scored all eight of Monmouth's points during the run, including a straightaway triple and an old-fashioned three-pointer.

Monmouth's 12-2 spurt ended with a three-point play on the inside by Kennedy Edwards and Army reclaimed the lead at 59-58. A tip in by Ferguson and a wide-open three from Wilson on an inbounds play made it eight in-a-row for the home team. A reverse layup by Cox punctuated the 10-0 run and Army was up 66-58 at 12:57 and never trailed from that point.

Army's lead stretched to 10 (74-64) on a pair of technical free throws by Wilson after Monmouth head coach King Rice was whistled for the infraction at the 10:29 mark of the second half.

Moments later, a drive and kick by Jordan Fox led to a wing three-pointer from Toomey and Army had its largest lead at 78-66 with 8:14 remaining.

The Hawks remained within striking distance and trimmed the lead to six with six minutes remaining, but an Adam Roe (eight points) three ball pushed the lead back to nine.

The Army lead was 11 (87-76) after a steal by Toomey and transition slam by Plomb with 3:49 to go, but Monmouth scored the next six points and the lead was 87-82 with two minutes to play. A missed three by Edwards gave the ball back to Monmouth and Josh James made a layup to pull the Hawks within three with 1:11 on the clock.

Army went to Plomb, who nailed a pullup jumper and the Black Knights eventually came away with the seven-point win.

Army begins conference play on Wednesday evening when it takes on preseason favorite Lehigh. Opening tip from Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., is 7 p.m. and the game can be seen on the Patriot League Network.

Game Notes: Kevin Ferguson recorded his 11th-career double-digit rebounding game … Wilson's 16 first-half points were the most in a first half since he scored 17 before intermission at Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 18 … Wilson recorded the 35th 20-point game of his career … Plomb reached 20 points for the 20th time in his career … Plomb moved into 27th on Army's all-time scoring list (1,065) … Army was 22-of-32 at the free throw line (68.8 percent), the second time in 2015-16 that it eclipsed the 20-plus free throw mark … Army improved to 9-0 this season when it has a lead at halftime … Army is 8-1 when outrebounding its opponent … the Black Knights are 4-0 when scoring more than 90 points … Army snapped Monmouth's five-game winning streak … the Hawks were receiving votes in both national polls at the start of Monday's game … the Black Knights are 9-3 for the second straight season and 9-3 for the third time during Zach Spiker's tenure … Spiker won his 92nd career game, tying him with Les Wothke for third on the program's all-time wins list … Army is 3-6 all-time against Monmouth.