West Long Branch, NJ (11/6/10)  The Monmouth University men's basketball team rallied from a seven point deficit with 4:40 remaining in regulation to defeat the visiting Chargers of Dominican College, 52-50, in an exhibition game held at the Multipurpose Activity Center this evening.

MU opened up the game with a 6-0 run, before the Chargers got on the board with a pair of free throws from sophomore Cory Quimby (Otisville, NY) with 13:25 left in the first half. 

After a media timeout, forward Gerald Hill (Gwynn Oak, MD) hit a trey to pull DC within three points, 8-5, with 11:27 to go but an 8-2 run by the Hawks put them ahead 16-7 with just over six minutes left before the break.

A layup from rookie Nick Smith (Middletown, NY) cut the lead to six (16-10) with about five minutes left, but the Hawks went on an 8-4 spurt to take their largest lead of the half, 23-14, with 0:23 ticks on the clock.  A corner trey from freshman guard Khaleev Ginyard (Brentwood, NY) as time expired made the score 23-17 at the break.

Monmouth free throws gave the Hawks a 25-17 lead to start off the second half, but a 5-0 run by the Chargers, all scored by senior center Almin Hodzic (Budd Lake, NJ) on a bucket and a three point play pulled the team to within one possession, 25-22.

Down 29-24 with 16:21 to go, a Ginyard three-point bucket cut the deficit to 29-27 with 15:55 remaining in regulation.  DC pulled with in a point (31-30) on a three point shot from sophomore guard Leon Porter (Laurel, MD), but a quick five points from MU regained a 35-30 lead.

DC answered back with a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to take their first lead of the game, 39-34.  A three pointer from Preston Smith (Mays Landing, NJ) and a bucket in the paint from forward Daniel Woods (Upper Marlboro, MD) tied the game at 35-35, followed by back-to-back layups from Porter and Quimby with 8:26 to go.

A Hodzic layup, a trey from Ginyard and a free throw from Smith gave the Chargers their biggest lead of the game, 45-38 with 4:48 to go and a big dunk from Smith with 4:12 left put the team head 47-41.

The Hawks clawed back with ten straight points to regain a 51-47 advantage with 0:40 ticks on the clock.  Off an inbounds play, Hodzic drilled a trey from the top of the key to cut the MU lead to 51-50 with 17 seconds left.

After an MU free throw for a 52-50 lead, the Chargers had a chance to tie the game with 0:01 on the clock, but the Hawks were able to strip the ball before DC could get a shot off.

Hodzic paced the Chargers with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Ginyard finished with nine points.  Porter led the team with seven assists.

Dominican opens the regular season on Saturday, November 12th as they take on the College of Saint Rose at the NE-10 Challenge hosted by the College of Saint Rose at 7pm.