LARAMIE, Wyo. - The Hampton University men's basketball team won its second game of the World Vision Basketball Challenge on Sunday, beating Monmouth 59-56 at the Arena-Auditorium.

After opening the season with five straight losses, the Pirates have won back-to-back games.

The Pirates took a 34-33 lead with 16:03 to play on a Mike Freeman jumper. The lead would balloon to 38-33 after a Jonathan Ntoko layup and a pair of free throws from Vincent Simpson. A 3-pointer from Justin Sofman with 8:48 remaining gave Monmouth a 45-44 lead, and Travis Taylor hit a layup with 6:44 left to play to put the Hawks up by three.

Charles Funches put Hampton (2-5) back on top, 50-49, with a layup with 3:13 left to play, but Monmouth tied the game at 51 with a jumper from Whitney Coleman, but Kwame Morgan sank a trey with 2:15 remaining to give the Pirates a 54-51 lead.

The Pirates made three of four free throws down the stretch to hold on.

Funches led the Pirates in scoring with 15 points on 4-for-8 shooting and a 5-for-5 effort on the free throw line. Freeman and Simpson each had 13 points, with Freeman adding a team-high 10 rebounds.

Coleman and Waite each led Monmouth with 17 points. Taylor added 13 points and eight rebounds, which tied with Waite for the team lead. Coleman added seven rebounds.

The Pirates shot 39.3 percent (22-for-56) from the floor, making just two of their 15 3-point attempts and hitting 68.4 percent (13-for-19) of their free throws. Monmouth shot 37.7 percent (23-for-61) from the field and made just six of its 12 free throws.

Monmouth out-rebounded Hampton 43-37, though the Pirates forced the Hawks into 18 turnovers, scoring 24 points off of them.

The Hawks used a 9-2 run late in the first half to take a 29-23 lead on a layup from Waite with 2:44 left in the half. The Pirates then scored the last four points of the half to cut Monmouth's lead to 29-27 at the break.

Funches had a team-high 10 points in the first half, as the Pirates shot 35.7 percent (10-for-28) from the floor. Coleman had 13 points for the Hawks, who shot 12-for-27 (44.4 percent) from the floor in the opening frame and held a 19-16 rebounding edge.

The Pirates scored 12 points on 10 Monmouth turnovers in the first half.

The Pirates will return to action on Wednesday, when they travel to Tampa, Fla. to take on the Bulls of South Florida at 7:30 p.m. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com

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