NEW ROCHELLE, NY – Monroe Express men's basketball finished their brief homestand Thursday evening against Shots With Patience Prep, resulting in a 80-65 inside Monroe Athletic Complex. With the victory, the Express' record improves to 10-8.

The Express kept things close with their opponent early on, as both squads traded baskets for the first 12 minutes of action before Shots With Patience Prep created some marginal separation off a Rome Lucky Jr. 3-pointer that put the visitors up 19-14. Not to be denied, Jasigha Barnes answered with a long ball of his own, followed by an Anthony Bannister jumper to even the score. Shots With Patience Prep would knock down a pair of 3-pointers, before Oramis Figuereo would respond with the same, followed by a jumper to keep Monroe within two. The red-hot teams would continue to trade baskets, until Vashaun Wallace pushed the Express in front with a mid-range floater with 57 seconds remaining in the period. Shots With Patience prep were unable to get off a last second shot, putting the tally at 38-36 going into the halftime break. 

Monroe got the ball rolling quickly into the second half, with Barnes hitting a 3-pointer to extend the lead to five points. John Tinch slotted a shot from downtown, before tying the game with a layup. The next few minutes of action would continue to be a tightly contested contest, with both teams unable to create a gap. After a Wallace layup at the 10:30 mark, the Express opened up a 10-4 scoring run in a  two minute span to extend their lead to 10 points, thoroughly swinging the momentum in their favor. After a Tisean Edmonds jumper, the Express opened up a 15 point advantage, to close out the game with a 80-65 final. 
Barnes had an all around game, leading all scorers with a season high 26 points, along with eight rebounds, one assist and one steal. Figuereo followed with 18 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and one steal. Abubakar Kromah added 12 points, nine rebounds, two assists and one block.

The Express held the advantage in rebounds (58-27), points in the paint (40-14), bench points (28-19), second chance points (10-7), field goal percentage (47.9 to 39.4) and free throw percentage (53.8 to 44.4). Shots With Patience Prep led the game in 3-point percentage (34.6 to 33.3). 

The Express take on Touro College in a non-conference bout Sunday (Jan. 15) inside ARC Arena at 11:00 AM.

ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 35 teams competing across nine sports. There are 21 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's and women's rugby, the Monroe College marching band, and the newly added esports and men's volleyball programs, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has 14 teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
 
For more information about the Monroe Express, please visit us at www.MonroeExpress.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Monroe Express), Twitter (@MonroeExpress) and Instagram (@MonroeExpress).