Drexel starts slow and can’t keep pace with Monmouth in 93-73 loss

Drexel came out flat vs. Monmouth on Thursday.

The Dragons were dominated by Monmouth from tipoff, losing 93-73. The Hawks’ 93 points were the most points allowed by Drexel this season.

The Dragons trailed by as many as 27 points in the second half.

“Today, it stings, and frankly … I want it to sting because hopefully that adversity can propel us forward. So we need to sit in this a little bit. That’s how you grow,” said Drexel coach Zach Spiker.

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Drexel has lost two of its last three and have dropped to fifth in the Coastal Athletic Association standings. The top four seeds in the CAA receive a bye in the conference tournament.

Entering Thursday’s game, Drexel (13-13, 7-6 CAA) boasted a balanced offense with five players scoring at least nine points a game. Their leading scorer in the blowout loss was not one of their usual five.

Sophomore guard Dillon Tingler, who was averaging 3.6 points before facing Monmouth, led the way for the Dragons with a career-high 19 points and six rebounds. Sixteen of Tingler’s points came in the second half.

Drexel’s usual suspects also made their way into the box score. Junior guard Shane Blakeny, the team’s leading scorer, notched 17 points and forward Victor Panov added 14.

Meanwhile, the Hawks (13-12, 7-4) were willed by a new face to the lineup.

Kavion McClain, a shifty 5-foot-10 point guard, led the way for Monmouth with 20 points, six assists, and three steals. Thursday was just McClain’s second game of the season. The NCAA forced McClain to sit out until now due to a former teammate at Abilene Christian being indicted in a point-shaving scandal.

“They have good basketball players, right?” said Spiker. “And they’ve added another good basketball player to that lineup. When you do that, you become more dynamic.”

Drexel played without fifth-year big man Garfield Turner. Although the center has only started in three games this year, he averages 19 minutes — the most by a center on the team.

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Spiker did not comment on Turner’s absence, but noted the team “hope[s] to get him back soon.”

Without Turner, Monmouth consistently outrebounded Drexel. The Hawks outrebounded the Dragons 23-12 in the first half, with 11 of their 45 points coming on second chance buckets.

With just over 12 minutes to go in the first, Drexel senior guard Eli Beard made his second three-pointer to bring the Dragons’ deficit to 21-14. After Beard’s bucket, Drexel did not score for the next seven minutes while Monmouth continued to build its lead.

From a Jan. 8 win over Stony Brook through the end of the month, Drexel allowed just 56.3 points per game, winning six of seven in the process. The Dragons also had the best defensive effective field goal percentage in the NCAA in January .

Through their first three games in February, Drexel is allowing 85.3 points. Despite missing Garfield’s defensive presence , it was the Hawks’ starting backcourt that made Drexel pay.

“Defensively, we did some things [well],” said Spiker. “Anything that we did well, we didn’t sustain. And to win a game, you got to sustain.”

Drexel goes back on the road to face Stony Brook on Monday (8 p.m., CBS Sports Network).