ALBANY, N.Y. – Monmouth University used a 13-0 run midway through the second half to erase a five-point Canisius lead, and the Hawks made six-straight free-throws in the game's final 31 seconds to defeat Canisius 60-54 in the quarterfinal round of the 2015 MAAC Men's Basketball Championship Saturday afternoon in the Times Union Arena. The loss eliminated the Golden Griffins (16-14) from the conference tournament, while Monmouth (18-14) advances to meet top-seeded Iona Sunday afternoon in the event's first semifinal game.

For Canisius, senior Jeremiah Williams scored 18 points to go with three rebounds in the loss, while redshirt-freshman Kassius Robertson scored 10 points while pulling down four rebounds for the Blue and Gold, which ended the night shooting 38 percent from the field, 30 percent from 3-point land and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line.

Four Monmouth players combined to score 48 of the Hawks' 60 points in the win, led by All-MAAC First-Team guard Justin Robinson, who had a team-high 16 points. Junior guard Deon Jones was good for 11 points and seven boards, while senior Andrew Nicholas chipped in 11 points as well. Sophomore Collin Stewart scored 10 points off the bench for Monmouth, which shot 37 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from 3-point land and 66.7 percent from the free-throw line.

A lay-up by Williams at the 13:29 mark of the second half gave Canisius a five-point lead at 39-34, however that advantage didn't last long. The Hawks used a 13-0 run over the span of 4:30 to take a 47-39 lead with 8:36 left to play, with that run capped by a jumper from Robinson from just outside the paint. Monmouth led by eight at 52-44 with 3:20 left on the clock before Canisius raced out to a 5-0 run, and a 3-pointer from Robertson made the score 52-49 in favor of Monmouth with 2:14 left, but Monmouth senior Max DiLeo ended that scoring run by pushing the Hawks' lead back to five points at 54-49 with 2:06 left to pay after he made a pair of free-throws.

Robertson got the Griffs within a bucket at 56-54 with 26 ticks left after he hit a 3-pointer from just in front of the Blue and Gold's bench, but Jones was able to knock down four-straight tosses from the charity stripe to seal the victory for Monmouth, the Hawks third win over Canisius during the 2014-15 season.

"We knew this was going to be a battle, Monmouth is a good basketball team with good size and good quickness," Canisius head coach Jim Baron said. "I thought that we fought the fight today, but we really didn't shoot the ball well at all. If we would have made a few of those shots like we did against Quinnipiac and Fairfield and Siena, it would have been a different outcome. I'm proud of the way we battled back again today. There's no reason for our kids to hang their heads, that's for sure. We were picked 10th in this league and we finished fifth and we earned a bye in the tournament. That's a pretty impressive effort from a very young group, in my opinion."

Canisius opened the game with an early 6-2 run, but the Hawks quickly knotted things up with 13:25 left before halftime, as Robinson hit a layup to make it 9-9. Monmouth continued to add to the lead as it went on a 16-5 run to post a 25-14 cushion with 6:26 left in the first half.

It appeared Monmouth had taken control of the contest early, but the Griffs started what would become a 19-6 run, which spanned from the first half to the second, to take a 35-31 lead with 15:26 left in regulation. In that scoring spurt, Williams had five points, senior Josiah Heath added five points and junior center Kevin Bleeker chipped in four points.

For the game, Monmouth out rebounded the Griffs by a 35-32 count, but Canisius held a 14-4 advantage on second-chance points. Canisius committed 17 turnovers in the loss, which Monmouth turned into 20 points, while the Blue and Gold turned Monmouth's 11 mistakes into just five points.

Canisius will now wait to see if it receives an invite to a postseason tournament. The school has had conversations with both the CBI event and the CIT.