The Monmouth College men’s basketball team fell to Illinois College 86-60 on Wednesday night and are now 1-2 in Midwest Conference action. The contest was the final conference game of December for Monmouth who will play three non-conference games to close the month.
Illinois College scored the first five points of the game before Jonathan Oradiegwu (Richmond, Texas) made a baseline layup for the Scots. The BlueBoys then went on a 10-0 to go on top 15-2 as they grabbed four offensive rebounds and scored eight second-chance points in the first five minutes of the game.
The Scots scored on two straight possessions to cut the IC lead to nine. Oradiegwu swished a wing 3-pointer to make it 17-9 but the BlueBoys answered with a three of their own. Will Ewald (Lincoln, Illinois) hit a 3-pointer and the Scots got within seven at the 10:00 mark.
The BlueBoys continued to make their 3-pointers and force turnovers. Back-to-back possessions with made shots from distance pushed the Monmouth deficit to 42-23 with 4:39 left in the half.
Amyas Njoku (Los Angeles, California) hit a wing 3-pointer and IC turned the ball over on the next possession, up 16. Oradiegwu made a layup to give Monmouth a 5-0 run. The BlueBoys missed a shot and the Scots got another quick layup from Oradiegwu to cut the IC lead to 42-30 at the two-minute mark of the half. Monmouth turned it over on their last two possessions of the half and IC nailed their eighth 3-pointer of the half for a 45-30 lead.
Illinois College pushed the lead to 21 early in the second half. Jordan Metcalf (Aledo, Illinois) scored seven of the Scots first nine points in the half. But the Scots scored just nine points in the first 10 minutes of the half while IC built the lead to 64-39.
The game bounced back and forth between 20 and 25 for the next five minutes. Monmouth got the deficit down to 20 with 4:26 to play as Ewald made a pair of free throws. Illinois College went on an 8-0 run to go on top 82-54.
The run ended on technical free throws made by sophomore Tyler Harms (Flanagan, Illinois) after a hanging on the rim dunk technical. Harms made two more free throws to make the score 82-58, the free throws marking his first collegiate points. Jacob York (St. Peters, Missouri) made two free throws for the Scots final points of the game in an 86-60 setback.
Oradiegwu led the Scots with 20 points while Ewald had 14 and Metcalf had 13. Metcalf led the Scots with eight rebounds and two blocks while Oradiegwu had three steals
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The Scots shot just 30.8 percent from the field…Monmouth made 23-of-28 from the free throw line, 82.1 percent…IC made 8-of-10 from 3-point range in the first half and scored 16 points off 10 Monmouth turnovers in the first 20 minutes…Coach Skrivseth is 8-2 against Illinois College at home and 14-5 overallMonmouth had won six straight in the series and Skrivseth had not lost to his former assistant coach Steve Schweer, in his fourth year as the BlueBoys head coach…The last loss against IC was 122-118 in double overtime in Feb. 2017 and the last loss at home to the BlueBoys was in Feb. 2014…Monmouth is next in action on Sunday, Dec. 19 at 4 p.m. against Blackburn College in a non-conference home game.
***Report Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
