NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The near capacity crowd inside the Monroe Athletic Complex was noticeably quiet during the Monroe College men’s basketball team’s 97-58 victory over Union County College on Tuesday in New Rochelle. It wasn’t that there weren’t highlights, because there were many. It was more like one of those games where the result is never in doubt, so there was a lot less drama in the game; a welcome change for the Mustangs who have struggled of late.
Monroe jumped out to a 17-0 lead over the first five minutes of game time. Lawahn Lewis got the Mustangs going in that run, leading the way with five points. Shackquille Scott and Taquan Givens eached scored four. Hampus Ahlin opened the game with a three-pointer and Lukas Landgren scored a bucket as well. It was safe to say that the game was decided in the opening five minutes.
From there, the Owls fought back and got within 12 points, but Monroe pushed the ball, as they are so comfortable doing, and got the lead back into a safe number. With 3:01 left in the half, Tyler Ancrum finished the break with a layup that gave Monroe its largest lead, 32 points. The score at the break was 59-28.
The second half saw the lead grow to 45 points, when Felix Carlsson nailed a jumper at the 9:06 mark. Dane Williamson closed out the scoring with a free throw at 0:22 and Monroe had a 97-58 win.
Five Mustangs reached double-figures in scoring. Tyler Ancrum scored a game-high 16 points on 6-6 shooting. Carlsson and Givens each totaled 14 points, while Scott and Ahlin finished with 11. Monroe got a remarkable 50 points scored from their reserves.
The Monroe College men’s basketball team is now 6-3 on the season. They return to action on Saturday, November 28, when they face Hagerstown Community College in the opening round of the Hagerstown CC Invitational from Hagerstown, Maryland. The game is slated to begin at 7PM.