The Monmouth College men’s basketball team played their third overtime game of the month but prevailed 95-86 at Lake Forest on Tuesday. The Fighting Scots (14-5, 8-2) got another double-double and a career-high in points from reigning MWC Performer of the Week Zay Brown (Peoria, Illinois).
Cam Thomas (Arlington, Texas) started the scoring with a bucket and Brown made it 4-0. Jordan Hill (Chicago, Illinois) made a free throw and a 3-pointer for an 8-0 lead but LFC went on a 13-0 run to lead by five. Brown ended the run with a bucket but the Scots trailed 18-11 until Hill hit a 3-pointer and Kyle Taylor (Moline, Illinois) made a pair of free throws .Max Maring (Port Byron, Illinois) tied tha game at 20 and Taylor put the Scots on top with a layup. Lake Forest went back up by seven at 31-24 but Maring hit a 3-pointer and Brown scored 10 points to close out the half with the Scots up 42-41.
Brown started the scoring in the second half with two free throws but Lake Forest went on top by five. Taylor tied the game at 51 with a 3-pointer and the teams traded the lead. Monmouth went up 64-57 on a 3-pointer by Thomas and a layup from Brown. Declan Flynn (Monmouth, Illinois) got in on the scoring and Monmouth led 72-68. The hosts went on a 10-2 run to lead 78-74 with 50 seconds left. Taylor made two free throws with 40 seconds left and Flynn stole the ball. Taylor tied the game with a layup off an offensive rebound. Lake Forest missed a 3-pointer but so did Hill at the buzzer as the game went to overtime.
Taylor and Brown combined for the first five points of overtime as Monmouth took a 83-78 lead. After the Foresters scored, Brown and Flynn got buckets for an 87-80 advantage. Monmouth got a series of stops and Flynn split free throws with 1:04 to play. Brown stole the ball and Tyalor made two free throws before LFC hit a 3-pointer. Taylor made two more free throws with 24 seconds left and Thomas finished the game with two free throws for the 95-86 win.
Brown scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double. Taylor had a season-high 21 points and added seven boards with three assists. Brown had two steals and Thomas had a block.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Brown has 16 double-digit scoring games and six with at least 20 points … He has five double-doubles … Brown’s career-high in points was 27 from his first game of the season … Flynn has nine double-digit scoring game of the season, including five in a row … All five starters were in double figures … Taylor made 10 free throws for the second time this month … The Scots are 3-0 in overtime games in January, 2-0 in MWC action … Flynn moved into fourth on the Monmouth career list with 93 games played … Ganon Greenman (Alpha, Illinois) is now in 10th place with 90 career games played … Hill has 14 double-digit scoring games … The 14-5 mark is the best record after 19 games since the 1991-92 team was also 14-5 … The Scots haven’t won more than 14 games in a season since the 20-8 campaign in 2017-18 … The 8-2 MWC start is the best since the 2017-18 team was 8-2 … The 1991-92 team was 9-1 after 10 MWC games … Monmouth has won three straight in Lake Forest and are 5-1 in the last six matchups against the Foresters … The Scots are at Knox on Saturday after the 1 p.m women’s game and the next home game is against Illinois College after the 5:30 p.m. women’s game on Feb. 5.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
