Men's Basketball Drops Close Game at Eureka

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (11/11/2023) — The Monmouth College men's basketball team dropped a back-and-forth game with Eureka College Friday night. The Fighting Scots (0-2) led 49-44 with just over six minutes to play but Eureka finished on a big run to win the game 63-56.

Monmouth fell behind big early as Eureka went on a 12-0 run from 2-2 to 14-2 before Brennan McNally (Paw Paw, Illinois) scored. Two free throws from Turner Plumer (Canton, Illinois) plus buckets from McNally and Ryne Schimmel (Moline, Illinois) cut the Eureka lead to 16-10. Neither team scored for the next three minutes and David Williams (Loves Park, Illinois) ended the drought with a bucket. Eureka didn't score for nearly seven minutes and a 3-pointer from McNally cut the score to 19-18. Monmouth took their first lead of the game with 2:21 to play in the half when Jadyn Ellison (Hudson, Illinois) hit a 3-pointer. Yuvraj Sidhu (Coppell, Texas) and McNally scored for a 25-21 lead and Ganon Greenman (Alpha, Illinois) added a basket. Williams made a layup with two seconds left for a 29-26 Monmouth lead at the break.

Eureka scored the first four points of the second half before Williams buried a 3-pointer. Kyle Taylor (Moline, Illinois) made his first 3-pointer of the young season for a 35-34 lead and Williams followed with a layup. Taylor buried another shot from distance and added a free throw for a 41-37 lead. Eureka closed to within one before Ellison made a 3-pointer. Jason Huber (Carpentersville, Illinois) and Sidhu scored to give Monmouth a 49-44 lead but Eureka went on a 9-0 run over the next four minutes to lead 53-49. Williams ended the run with a free throw with 2:27 to play but Eureka pushed the lead to 55-50. Williams made a 3-pointer after a timeout but Eureka scored again and Monmouth turned the ball over with 1:03 to play. The Red Devils made two free throws to go up by six and Williams knocked down another 3-pointer to close to within three. Eureka broke the press for a layup twice in the final 30 seconds for the 63-56 final score.

Williams led the Scots with 16 points while McNally had nine, all in the first half. Sidhu scored eight, Taylor had seven, all in the second half, and Ellison had six. Williams led the team with seven rebounds, one more than Sidhu.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Ellison scored a career-high six points. The Scots bench scored 23 points. Monmouth won the turnover battle with nine to Eureka's 16 but the Red Devils were +9 on the glass. The teams split two games last season with Monmouth winning at home 83-75 and losing at Eureka 78-77. The Scots are 6-4 in the last 10 against Eureka. The teams play again in Monmouth on Dec. 16. The home opener is against Concordia Chicago on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. following the women's game against Augustana.

Yuvraj

Sidhu