The Monmouth College men’s basketball team suffered their second straight loss with a 67-66 setback at Lawrence University on Saturday. The Fighting Scots (10-8, 6-3) had a chance to win on the final possession but didn’t convert against the Vikings.
Declan Flynn (Monmouth, Illinois) scored the first basket of the game and the teams went back and forth early with neither leading by more than three over the first 10 minutes. Monmouth tied the game at 13 and took the lead on a basket from Yuvraj Sidhu (Coppell, Texas). Jordan Hill (Chicago, Illinois) made it 18-13 with 8:55 to play in the half and Monmouth kept the lead the next seven minutes. The lead ballooned to eight when David Williams (Loves Park, Illinois) hit a 3-pointer with 4:55 to play in the half. Lawrence scored the next eight points to tie the game at 27 and Hill made a free throw. Lawrence scored with four seconds left in the half and took a 29-28 lead to the locker rooms.
The lead bounced back and forth over the first five minutes of the second half with the Scots going up by five on a bucket from Kendall Brasfield (Chicago, Illinois). A bucket from Williams made it 45-39 with 13:00 left. Jordan Metcalf (Aledo, Illinois) scored in the paint for a 56-50 lead and then he scored again to push the lead back to eight. Williams hit a 3-pointer with 6:00 to play for a 63-56 lead but that was the last field goal of the game for the Scots.
Lawrence scored seven straight points and tied the game on a free throw with 3:45 left. They missed the second free throw but scored on the offensive rebound for a 65-63 lead. They pushed the lead to 67-63 before Metcalf made a free throw with 1:32 to play. He made a pair of free throws with 54 seconds left to cut the lead to one. Lawrence missed the front end of a one-and-one with 22 seconds left and Brasfield grabbed the rebound. Down one, the Scots had a chance to take the lead in the final seconds but Brasfield missed a jumper and Lawrence grabbed the rebound to secure the win.
Metcalf and Brasfield both finished with 16 points while Williams had 13. Hill scored eight points and Sidhu finished with six. Metcalf led the team with four assists while Sidhu and Brasfield both had seven rebounds.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The Scots beat Lawrence 85-75 at home on Jan. 2. The Vikings won both games last year and have won six of the last eight in the series Monday. Monmouth only committed six turnovers in the game. The Scots were 9-for-15 (.600) at the line while Lawrence was 14-for-18 (.778)…Monmouth didn’t make a field goal over the final 6:00 with just three points scored in that span as they were 0-for-7 from the field. Metcalf has scored at least 10 points in 14 games this season. He also has at least five rebounds in 17 of the 18 games. The Scots head to Lake Forest on Wednesday and play after the women’s 5:30 p.m. game against the Foresters.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
