The Monmouth College men’s basketball team returned to the court Friday night for the first time in 621 days. The season opener at Glennie Gymnasium resulted in a 73-52 loss to Wisconsin-Whitewater in non-conference action.
The Scots scored first as Jordan Metcalf (Aledo, Illinois) made a layup after a Warhawks turnover. Monmouth fell behind 13-8 before five straight points from freshman Declan Flynn (Monmouth, Illinois) tied the game with 11:01 to play in the half. Flynn drilled a three for his first collegiate bucket and then made a long 2-pointer to tie the game.
However the Warhawks went on a 12-0 run over the next 3:05 and took control of the game. The Scots got it back to single digits at 27-19 before UWW scored eight in a row and the visitors took a 38-25 lead into the locker room at halftime. Metcalf led the Scots with eight points in the first half while Flynn had seven.
The Warhawks scored 11 of the first 14 points in the second half to take a 49-28 lead at the 14:55 mark. Monmouth made a run and got it back down to 15 with 10:27 to play but that was as close as it got the rest of the way.
Metcalf finished with 16 points, tying UWW’s Jack Brahm for high-scoring honors in the game. Jonathan Oradiegwu (Richmond, Texas) was the other Scots player in double digits with 11 points while Flynn finished with nine. Metcalf also had a team-high eight rebounds.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Friday marked the Scots first season-opening loss since Nov. 15, 2016 against Simpson. Monmouth shot 34.5 percent from the floor and made just 2-of-20 from beyond the arc. Whitewater made 13-of-19 free throws while the Scots made 10-of-20Every Monmouth player that dressed got into the game as 18 players saw action. Of those 18, 11 made their college debuts and 11 different players scored. The Scots had a 10-0 run on the second half. Whitewater scored 27 points off turnovers and outscored Monmouth 40-24 in the paint. Metcalf drew eight fouls and was 4-for-9 from the line. The Scots are next in action on Wednesday, at home against Loras at 7 p.m.
***Report Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
