The Monmouth College men’s basketball team won their second game in three days with a 66-63 road win at Eureka College on Monday night. The Fighting Scots (3-0) built a 16-point lead in the second half and held on down the stretch by making five straight free throws.
Zay Brown (Peoria, Illinois) scored Monmouth’s first basket and Jordan Hill (Chicago, Illinois) hit a pair of free throws. Hill drilled a 3-pointer as the Scots grabbed a couple offensive rebounds and Monmouth kept the Red Devils off the scoreboard for the first four minutes. Eureka responded with an 8-0 run before Brown tied the game with a free throw. Hill tied the game again with a layup and Cameron Thomas (Arlington, Texas) answered a Red Devils basket. Brennan McNally (Paw Paw, Illinois) put the Scots on top and the game went back-and-forth. Thomas made another layup and HIll hit a 3-pointer for a 23-17 Monmouth lead with 6:30 left in the half
Brown and McNally both scored as the Scots pushed the lead to eight before the Red Devils answered with a basket. HIll hit another 3-pointer for a 30-21 lead and Kamran Banks (Springfield, Illinois) knocked down a long-distance shot as well. Monmouth led by 10 but the hosts closed the half on a 5-0 run to trail 33-28 at the break. Hill finished the half with 15 points as six different Monmouth players scored at least two points.
Hill started the second half with a basket and Max Maring (Port Byron, Illinois) scored inside. Brown’s bucket put Monmouth up 39-31 and Kyle Taylor (Moline, Illinois) added a free throw Eureka cut the lead to 40-38 with a 7-0 run.before Brown hit a free throw and Declan Flynn (Monmouth, Illinois) knocked down a wing 3-pointer. Jason Huber (Carpentersville, Illinois) made two free throws and Brown scored at the rim for an 8-0 run and a 48-38 lead. Taylor kept the run going with two free throws and Huber’s free throws gave the Scots their largest lead of the night at 14.
As the game hit the 10-minute mark, Flynn scored for a 54-38 lead. Eureka finally ended the 14-0 run and the teams traded baskets. Maring scored and Thomas made two free throws before Eureka called timeout, down 59-49 with 4:30 to play. Hill answered a Red Devils basket but the lead was rimmed to 61-55 with 2:30 to play. Eureka scored again and Taylor split free throws with 1:15 to play. Monmouth missed a shot on their next possession and Eureka cut the lead to 62-60 with 31.7 seconds to play. Taylor made two free throws to push the lead back to two possessions. Eureka hit a 3-pointer and Taylor made two more free throws for a 66-63 lead with 12 seconds left. The hosts couldn’t get a shot and called timeout with 3.1 seconds left before missing at the buzzer.
Hill led the Scots with 17 points while Brown had 10 and Taylor added eight, all at the line. Flynn had 10 rebounds while Brown had seven. Hill and Huber both had two assists while Hill had four steals and Maring led the Scots with two blocks
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Hill and Brown have been in double figures all three games this season … Hill made three 3-pointers for the third straight game, tying his career high ,,, He is 9-for-16 from 3-point range to start the season … Taylor was 8-for-10 at the free throw line and is 14-for-16 in the last two games … Monmouth was 19-for-27 (.704) at the free throw line but made just 5-of-21 (.238) from behind the 3-point line … Monmouth won the rebounding battle 44-36 and have out rebounded their opponent in all three games this seasonThe Scots blocked five shots in the game … Monmouth only trailed for 3:48 in the game … The Scots scored 32 points in the paint for the second straight game … The last time the Scots were 3-0 was in Nov. 2019 when they started the season 6-0Monmouth leads the all-time series 32-12 and the teams split games last season … Monmouth’s last win in Eureka was in 2018Monmouth hosts Eureka on Dec. 18 … The Scots play an exhibition game at WIU on Thursday … The next game that counts is a home game on Tuesday, Nov. 26 against Dubuque.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
