The Monmouth College men’s basketball team dropped the home conference opener against Beloit on Saturday. The Scots (3-4, 1-1), still without leading scorer David Williams (Loves Park, Illinois) were outscored 9-2 down the stretch as Beloit pulled away.
The Scots got off to a good start as buckets from Declan Flynn (Monmouth, Illinois), Turner Plumer (Canton, Illinois) and Jason Huber (Carpentersville, Illinois) built a 6-2 lead. Flynn scored again before Beloit scored five straight for a 9-8 lead. Max Maring (Port Byron, Illinois) scored for an 11-11 tie but the Bucs scored the next nine. Kyle Taylor (Moline, Illinois) scored five points in a row but Beloit answered. The Scots cut the lead to four at 27-23 and Taylor drilled another 3-pointer. Beloit answered with five straight to go up 32-26 and they led 34-28 at halftime.
Monmouth cut the lead to three early in the second half on baskets from Huber and Plumer. Beloit pushed the lead back to eight and Taylor scored buckets on two straight possessions. Maring made two free throws and Flynn hit a 3-pointer to cut Beloit’s lead to 46-45. Taylor’s 3-pointer gave the Scots the lead for the first time since it was 8-7. The Scots led 52-51 when Taylor scored again but Beloit got a 3-point play to regain the lead with 4:31 to play. Taylor’s free throws tied the game at 54 but Beloit scored the next nine points until Taylor scored in the final seconds for the 63-56 final.
Taylor led the way with a career-high 24 points while Flynn and Maring had seven points each. Plumer had seven rebounds, one more than McNally and Taylor. Huber and Flynn both had two assists while Plumer had two steals.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Taylor has scored in double digits four times this season and he has two 20+ point games. He had 22 against Concordia Chicago on Nov. 14. Taylor was 6-for-6 at the free throw line but the rest of the team was 5-for-10. Beloit won the battle of the boards 42-37. Beloit outscored Monmouth in the paint 36-22. Monmouth swept the season series last year and are 7-3 in the last 10 games..Beloit leads the all-time series 67-64 and the Scots are 13-10 under Coach Skirvseth. The Scots are home again on Wednesday against Illinois College with a 5:30 p.m. start.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
