Score: Monmouth 72, UAlbany 70
 
Location: OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch, N.J.
 
Records: UAlbany (6-8); Monmouth (6-5)
 
Short Story: Romani Hansen recorded a double-double but UAlbany men's basketball comes up just short in a wild finish at Monmouth, 72-70.
 
Key Stats
 

• Romani Hansen recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds
• Cameron Healy scored 14 points in the first half, shooting 4-6 from three
• Ahmad Clark scored 14 points in the second half
• Sasha French and JoJo Anderson made their first career starts
• UAlbany outscored Monmouth 47-12 off the bench and 30-18 in the paint
• Monmouth outscored UAlbany 18-3 in transition

 
Coach Brown: "We executed the last play and Ahmad a good look.  But we had a couple of possessions defensively that we didn't finish where we gave them second opportunities.  It's hard for me to be upset about their last basket because it's a bang-bang situation.  Every time we play Monmouth it's a physical game and it's a battle back-and-forth.  Romani Hansen played well, and brought a lot of energy.  And getting JoJo out there was good for us.  We're just all over the place right now with our execution.  We're showing flashes but we have to eliminate the self-inflicted mistakes if we're going to take the next step."
 
Recap
 
The second of four-straight road games for the University at Albany men's basketball team came down to the wire at Monmouth on Saturday, as the Great Danes fell to the Hawks 72-70 on a wild finish that came down to the final shot.
 
Debuting his sixth starting lineup of the season, head coach Will Brown added Sasha French and JoJo Anderson to the starting five for the first time in their careers.  For Anderson, Saturday's game was his season debut after missing the first 13 games due to injury.
 
French scored UAlbany's first five points, and recorded a block in the first three minutes of the game.  Anderson scored his first points as a Great Danes with 16:49 remaining in the first to put UAlbany up 7-2 early. 
 
With 14:21 to go in the first, Cameron Healy hit his first three-pointer of the game, extended his made-threes streak to 46 games.  Healy would finish the first half shooting 4-6 from behind the arc.
 
UAlbany led by as many as 15 in the first half, after Romani Hansen put the Danes up 29-14 with 9:28 to go. Monmouth began inching back, closing to within one, 33-32, by halftime, while UAlbany had closed the half missing 10-straight shots.
 
Healy scored 14 points in the first half to lead the Danes in just 14 minutes of play.  Hansen had scored four points and grabbed six rebounds.  Two Hawks, Ray Salnave and Deion Hammond, reached double-figures in scoring in the first 20 minutes.
 
Antonio Rizzuto immediately hit a three to start the second half, putting UAlbany back up by four.  Monmouth scored the next four points to tie the game at 36 with 18:03 to go.  After a layup from Malachi de Sousa, Monmouth hit a three to take their first lead of the game, 39-38, with 16:50 remaining.
 
The Hawks led by as many as four over the next seven minutes until Ahmad Clark hit a three with 9:16 to go to put UAlbany ahead by two, 48-47.  From there, the teams would largely trade baskets, with Monmouth leading by as many as five but with UAlbany briefly retaking leads with 7:31 and 2:13 remaining, the latter of which would prove to be the Danes final lead of the game.
 
Trailing 64-63, Monmouth scored the next five to go up 68-64 with 45 seconds to go.  de Sousa hit a layup to bring UAlbany within two with 29 seconds remaining.  After Monmouth hit one of two free throws to go up three, Trey Hutcheson hit a three in the left corner to tie the game at 69 with nine seconds left.
 
Monmouth drove the length of the court and hit a contested layup while drawing a foul with two seconds to go to take a 71-69 lead.  One of the Hawks' bench players ran on to the court to celebrate, drawing a technical foul.  Healy hit the technical free throw to close the lead to just one with two seconds remaining.  Monmouth next hit their and-one free throw, leaving UAlbany to drive the length of the court to win or tie the game.  Clark's long three-point attempt missed the mark, and UAlbany fell by a final score of 72-70.
 
Clark scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half and finished as UAlbany's leading scorer for the game.  Hansen recorded his first-career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.  UAlbany finished the game shooting 48.1% from the floor, but just 35.0% from three and 54.2/% from the line.  Overall, the game featured 11 lead changes and six ties.
 
Next: UAlbany wraps 2019 and its non-conference schedule on December 30 at Columbia.  America East play begins January 4 at Binghamton.  The Great Danes return to SEFCU Arena on January 11 to host Maine.