Dane Miller took this game over.
He didn't score much in the first half, but he was a defensive force. He sent two balls into the stands with artistic blocks. In the second half, he took over offensively, taking the ball hard to the hoop.
It was his game.
More after the jump...
Mike Coburn had another solid game, kicking in 18 points. Jonthan Mitchell had 16. It felt like, for the most part, the team was clicking in all aspects of the game.But if you take a closer look, you'll realize that wasn't true. In the first ten minutes of the game, the Monmouth Hawks scored 20 points, and were shooting 50% from three point land. They battled tough, and even though the Scarlet Knights had a six point lead at half, it seemed that Monmouth was going to hang around. The Hawks even managed to take a brief lead early in the second half.
But RU kicked it into another gear after that. They only gave up 25 points in the second half. They forced the Hawks' best player into his fourth foul and made him sit. The offense started to click.
Rutgers went on a run, and even got a fast break highlight dunk from Gilvydas Biruta off a beautiful pass by James Beatty.
The Scarlet Knight did what they had to. St. Peter's is up next.
A couple of links:
Scarlet Scuttlebutt has the postgame interview with Coach Rice.