GALESBURG, Ill. — The rivalry between Knox College and Monmouth College continued on Saturday afternoon as the Fighting Scots men's basketball team held off the host Prairie Fire in Midwest Conference action at Memorial Gymnasium, 71-64. Monmouth (6-2, 2-0 MWC) won the game at the foul line, making 78.1 percent of its free throws (25-of-32), dropping Knox to 4-3 on the season and 1-2 in the league.

The Prairie Fire struggled from the line early, hitting just nine of their first 18 attempts. Down the stretch, though, Knox connected on its last foul shots and finished 17-of-26 (.654) for the game.

Knox jumped out to the early lead, thanks in part to a four-point play by sophomore Willie Rogers III, as the Prairie Fire led 12-8 before seven minutes had elapsed. But the Fighting Scots fought back with 13 straight points in under three minutes to take their first lead and extend it to 21-12.

The Prairie Fire deficit grew to as many as 12 as Monmouth shot 44 percent (11-of-25) from the floor and 80 percent (8-of-10) from the line for the half. The last four points of the stanza went to Knox, however, on a pair of free throws and a Noah Campbell jumper from the left elbow to cut the deficit back to single digits at the intermission, 32-24.

Six straight Prairie Fire points early in the second half quickly closed the gap to three, 33-30, as junior Denim Tuala-Fata provided two of the three Knox buckets. Monmouth withstood the run, going back up 10 on a Cameron Thomas triple at 42-32. The Fire slowly burned away at the different, coming within three again on a long ball by junior Vladimir Marinov. After the Fighting Scots answered with another Thomas 3-pointer, Knox ripped off the next eight points for a 51-49 lead with first-year Aydan Ayer and Tuala-Fata each providing four points.

A pair of Kamran Banks free throws and a Kyle Taylor trifecta put Monmouth back on top, and though the Fire were able to get within one on two occasions after that and never trailed by more than seven, the Fighting Scots converted their next 12 free throws, not misfiring until 10 seconds remained and the outcome was sealed.

• Ayer led Knox by scoring 14 points off the bench, with the only other Prairie Fire in double figures being Tuala-Fata, who scored a season-high 10 points before fouling out.
• Thomas led all players with 17 points for the visitors, while Max Maring added 16, going 12-of-12 at the foul line.
• Senior Russell Wright led all players with eight rebounds before fouling out as well, but the Fighting Scots held a slight 41-39 edge on the glass.
• Both teams shot under 40 percent from the floor — Knox 37.9 percent (22-of-58), Monmouth 36.4 percent (20-of-55) — with the Scots collecting six 3-pointers to three for the Fire, one game after hitting 11 triples.
• Prior to the game, the two teams paid tribute to Jordan Ball, a junior high teacher and coach at Galesburg Junior High and a 2021 Monmouth graduate, who was tragically killed in a weather-related auto accident on Dec. 1.

Knox will be back in action on Wednesday evening when the Prairie Fire travel to Greenville University (2-6, 0-3 SLIAC) to take on the Panthers at 6 p.m. Live stats will be available for the game through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College Athletics, courtesy of Greenville University.