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Can Siena cap off a strong season with a tournament berth? Can Monmouth finally end a streak of heartbreak? Or will Iona write the same old story even with an unusual season and a new coach and qualify for the big dance yet again?
All seem like viable possibilities in a season that saw almost every MAAC team significantly affected by COVID. Though Siena crossed the regular season finish line with the best record, neither they nor any team appears dominant enough to be a lock for the tourney crown.
The MAAC chose a different path than most in choosing to seed by total wins instead of by win percentage or even metric-adjusted win percentage. In doing so, a team like Iona, who owns a share of the second best winning percentage. is vastly under-seeded, perhaps, due to a couple of large COVID delays that notably caused its coach to call for the postponement of the season. They could face teams like Siena earlier than they would under normal circumst
2021/02/07 13:27 NEW YORK (AP) Melik Martin tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds to lift Monmouth to a 71-69 overtime win over Manhattan on Saturday night. Deion Hammond had 15 points for Monmouth (10-5, 10-4 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). George Papas added 12 points and six rebounds. Marcus McClary had 11 points and six rebounds. Warren Williams scored a season-high 20 points and had nine rebounds for the Jaspers (5-8, 4-8), who have now lost four straight games. Elijah Buchanan added 16 points and nine rebounds. Ant Nelson had 11 points and six assists. The Hawks improve to 2-0 against the Jaspers this season. Monmouth defeated Manhattan 70-65 on Friday.
2021/01/31 08:17 LEWISTON, N.Y. (AP) Kobi Nwandu had a season-high 25 points as Niagara defeated Monmouth 83-74 on Saturday. Jordan Cintron added 22 points for the Purple Eagles. Cintron also had eight rebounds. Greg Kuakumensah had 10 points for Niagara (7-9, 6-8 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). Donovann Toatley had 17 points for the Hawks (8-5, 8-4), whose five-game win streak came to an end. Melik Martin added 14 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. George Papas had 12 points. Deion Hammond, whose 18 points per game heading into the matchup led the Hawks, scored only nine points on 4-of-14 shooting but still hit the 1,500 career point mark, the seventh Hawk in program history to do so.