MONMOUTH, Ill. — Host Monmouth College rode a 12-point run late in the first half to an 84-73 victory over the visiting Knox College men's basketball team at Glennie Gymnasium in Midwest Conference action on Tuesday evening. Zay Brown scored a season-high 31 points for the Fighting Scots (17-5, 11-2 MWC) while sophomore Josh Stewart came off the bench to supply 18 for the Prairie Fire (4-18, 1-12 MWC).
Though Knox never held the lead, the first 14 minutes were tightly contested as Monmouth never led by more than five points. After a steal and breakaway layup by Prairie Fire first-year guard Braeden Phelan tied the game at 10, the Scots regained the lead with a pair of foul shots. Knox proceeded to get within one point on five occasions but could never get ahead of Monmouth.
A 3-pointer by junior Cole Andrews made it a 32-29 game with 5:24 left in the half, but the Fighting Scots scored on their next five possessions, including two treys, while Knox turned the ball over twice and misfired on a pair of 3-point attempts, allowing Monmouth to suddenly go up by 15, 44-29 with 3:20 until halftime. The Fire did score the final five points before the intermission, leaving them down 11, 50-39.
When first-year Willie Rogers III rained down a triple to start the second half, it seemed that the momentum from the end of the first half carried over. But eight points was as close as Knox would get the rest of the way, even though it held Monmouth to 7-of-21 shooting (.333) for the half. The problem was fouls; the Fighting Scots hit 20-of-26 free throws in the second half alone, and 33-of-40 (.825) for the night.
- Stewart was 6-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-6 at the charity stripe, plus narrowly missed out on a double-double with a team-high nine rebounds.
- Rogers put up a season-high 16 points and junior Russell Wright contributed 11.
- Knox connected on just 4-of-17 (.238) from behind the arc; over the last seven games the team has knocked down a collective 24.4 percent from downtown and not been over 30 percent in any of the seven games.
- Monmouth swept the season series and has won the last six meetings between the two schools.
The Prairie Fire will attempt to snap their seven-game skid back at home in Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday when it hosts Beloit College (8-14, 3-10 MWC) on Senior Day at 3 p.m. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. with a live stream and stats available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College athletics.
