MONMOUTH, ILL. (11/08/2023) The Monmouth College men’s basketball team opened the 2023-24 campaign with a 91-46 loss at Division I Eastern Illinois on Wednesday night. The Scots (0-1) will return to Division III action on Friday at Eureka with the home opener slated for next Tuesday.
The Scots took an early lead as Yuvraj Sidhu (Coppell, Texas) stole the ball on EIU’s first possession and David Williams (Loves Park, Illinois) knocked down a 3-pointer. Eastern responded with a 26-0 run. Declan Flynn (Monmouth, Illinois) ended the run with a free-throw line jumper, Monmouth’s first basket in almost 10 minutes. Ryne Schimmel (Moline, Illinois) scored his first career basket on the next possession and Flynn made a layup while getting fouled. He converted the free throw to cut the EIU lead to 31-10, Schimmel made a 3-pointer as did Flynn for a 9-0 Monmouth run.
Turner Plumer (Canton, Illinois) scored a pair of baskets for the Scots to make it 36-20 after the under 4-minute timeout. Jordan Hill (Chicago, Illinois) got on the board with a pair of free throws before EIU made a pair of 3-pointers to go up 42-22. Flynn ended a 10-0 run with a bucket but EIU hit another 3-pointer to end the half with a 49-24 lead. .
Sidhu scored Monmouth’s first four points of the second half as EIU went on a 13-4 run for a 62-28 lead before the first media timeout. Neither team scored for the next three minutes before Hill made a layup. Brennen McNally (Paw Paw, Illinois) made his first Monmouth basket and EIU pushed the lead to 69-32 at the under-12 media timeout. EIU hit a 3-pointer before Jason Huber (Carpentersville, Illinois) scored his first basket of the season. The Panthers led by 45 when Williams knocked down a 3-pointer with 5:10 to play. He made another 3-pointer 90 seconds later as EIU led 82-40. McNally scored a bucket and then hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final score of 91-45.
Flynn led the Scots with 10 points, all in the first half. Williams had nine, McNally had seven and Schimmel finished with five points. Four players had three rebounds and three tied for the team lead with two assists. Sidhu blocked two shots and Taylor had two steals.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: McNally and Schimmel made their Monmouth debuts. The Scots had 17 players see action and eight scored. Monmouth assisted on 12 of 18 made field goals and nine different players had at least one assist. Monmouth was a perfect 3-for-3 at the line. Monmouth and EIU have never met. The last time the Scots played a game that counted against a D1 team was an 84-63 loss to Missouri-Kansas City in the 1996-97 season. The Scots also started the 1984-85 season with a loss to Western Illinois. The Scots are 6-6 in season openers under Skrivseth. The Scots play at Eureka College on Friday with a 7 p.m. start. The home opener is against Concordia Chicago on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. following the women’s game against Augustana.
***Story courtesy of Monmouth College Sports Information Director Nathan Baliva***
