By: The Scots opened up a double-digit lead midway through the first half and held off a second half charge from the Blueboys to win, 76-61.
Box Score
MONMOUTH, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team tried to battle back in the closing stages on Tuesday night, but Monmouth College held on for a 76-61 win in the Midwest Conference opener for both schools. The Scots moved to 1-1 (1-0 MWC), while the Blueboys went to 1-2 (0-1 MWC).
Neither team could get much going early on and it was more than two minutes into the game before Monmouth took a 2-0 lead. Both offenses then began to flow and five quick points off the bench from
Sean McDonald helped the Blueboys stay in it, tied at 11-11.
Monmouth went on the decisive run with about seven minutes gone in the contest. A 12-0 run that included two three-pointers from Cam Sturtevant put the Scots on top, 23-11, before
Mason Speer broke the Illinois College drought with a three of his own. The damage had been done however, and the Scots held the lead all the way into halftime, up 40-26.
The Blueboys looked to get back into it early in the second half. Quick buckets from
Tim Schappaugh,
Payton Dugan and
Mitchell Patterson made it 42-32 with less than three minutes gone. The Scots always had an answer though, responding back with a three-pointer and a pair of layups that forced an Illinois College timeout with the score 49-34.
The lead hovered in that territory for the next few minutes, but with the score 60-44, Schappaugh drained a three-pointer and
Cody Hildebrand fed Dugan for an and-one layup that made it 60-50 with just under eight minutes left. Moments later,
Tim Parks was fouled and a technical was called on Monmouth. Schappaugh and Parks hit all four of their free throws and IC had the lead down to 63-56.
That would be as close as it would get for Illinois College however. Monmouth converted a three-point play down on the other end to start an 8-0 run that put the Scots ahead by 15 with less than four minutes to play. The final basket for IC came from
David Bauer, but neither team scored in the final 75 seconds and the Blueboys took the loss.
Schappaugh and Dugan shared team-high scoring honors on the night for Illinois College with 13 apiece. Speer added 11 and had a team-best three assists. In his season debut, Patterson had six points and five rebounds off the bench.
Illinois College will wait until after Thanksgiving to hit the hardwood again. The Blueboys are back home at Sherman Gymnasium on Dec. 2 to host Lawrence University in a 7:30 p.m. matchup.
