The Monmouth College men’s basketball team made 12 3-pointers to build an early lead before hanging on to win at Ripon 82-73 Saturday afternoon The Fighting Scots (14-10, 10-5) are back in second place in the Midwest Conference and assured of finishing no lower than tied for fourth.
The Scots got off to a quick start as Kyle Taylor (Moline, Illinois) and David Williams (Loves Park, Illinois) hit 3-pointers for a 6-2 lead. Jordan Metcalf (Aledo, Illinois) put the Scots up 11-7 with a 3-point play and scored again to make it 13-7. The Scots pushed the lead to 12 with points from Williams, Metcalf and Jordan Hill (Chicago, Illinois). Hill added a 3-pointer and buckets from Yuvraj Sidhu (Coppell, Texas) and Metcalf made it 26-15. Ripon scored the next six but the Scots responded with a 3-pointer from Williams and a bucket from Metcalf for a 31-21 lead. Williams and Taylor hit 3-pointers on the next three possessions to push the lead to 40-21. Hill and Metcalf followed with layups and the Scots had a 44-21 lead after an 18-0 run. Declan Flynn (Monmouth, Illinois) got in on the action with a 3-pointer for a 47-25 halftime lead as Monmouth made eight 3-pointers in the half.
The Scots pushed the lead to 28 early in the second half with free throws from Taylor and buckets from Metcalf and Kendall Brasfield (Chicago, Illinois). A 3-pointer from Flynn gave the Scots a 59-31 lead with 15:05 to play. Ripon scored the next 10 before Taylor scored with 11:04 left. After the Scots again led by 20, Ripon went on another mini-run to cut the Monmouth lead to 11 with 4:04 left. Williams hit a sixth 3-pointer for a 73-59 lead and Ripon scored the next five. The Red Hawks eventually cut the lead to four at 77-73 and got the ball back on a turnover. Flynn stole the ball back and Taylor made two free throws with 39 seconds left. Hill and Williams added free throws as Ripon failed to score again and the Scots won the game 82-73.
Williams was 6-for-10 from 3-point range and finished with a career-high 24 points. Metcalf had 22 and nine rebounds. Taylor had 17 points to go with five assists and five steals as he made 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Monmouth won the first matchup 77-70 to sweep the season seriesThe Scots are 7-5 in the last 12 against Ripon and ended a two-game losing streak at RiponWith 10 wins, the worst the Scots can do is finish in a 3-way tie for fourth place in the conferenceMonmouth has tie breakers over both Lake Forest and Ripon but lost the first matchup against CornellThe Scots were 12-for-23 (52.2%) from 3-point rangeThe Scots have 10 MWC wins on the seasonMonmouth plays their final regular season game at Cornell College on Tuesday following the 5:30 p.m. game between the women’s teams.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
