Men's Basketball Falls at Coe

Metcalf leads way with 20 points

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (11/18/2021) — The Monmouth College men's basketball team had a furious rally with 11 points in the final minute of the game but they lost 73-68 at Coe on Wednesday night. The loss drops the Scots to 0-3 to start the season and the last two games have both been decided by five points.

Monmouth fell behind early and were down 6-0 when Jordan Metcalf (Aledo, Illinois) got his first basket at the 17:30 mark. Metcalf got the next Monmouth bucket as well before Coe pushed the lead to 11-4. They pushed the lead to as many as eight with 9:34 to play in the half before the Scots went on a 5-0 run with a 3-pointer from Yuvraj Sidhu (Coppell, Texas) and a basket from Declan Flynn (Monmouth, Illinois).

Coe responded with a 5-0 run of their own to take a 27-19 lead. Again Monmouth came back with their own run and a 3-pointer from Flynn cut the Kohawks lead to 27-25 with 3:21 to play in the half. The hosts finished the half on a 7-1 run and took a 34-26 lead into the break. Amyas Njoku (Los Angeles, California) led the Scots with seven points in the half while Flynn had five and Metcalf had four but the latter two both had two fouls in the first 20 minutes.

The teams traded baskets to start the half and Monmouth cut the lead to five at 37-32. Coe went on a 5-0 run to go up by double digits and eventually extended the lead to 14 at 50-36 with 12:41 to play. Metcalf and Flynn connected on back-to-back possessions to get the Scots back within 10 with 8:03 to play.

The game stayed in the 10-point range until Njoku made a layup with 3:11 to play to cut the Coe lead to 62-55. But Coe went on a 5-0 run over the next two minutes as the Scots missed consecutive 3-pointers. Briar Greenman (Alpha, Illinois) made a 3-pointer with 51 seconds left to cut the Coe lead to 69-60.

Coe split free throws and Flynn made a 3-pointer and the Scots got another 3-point from Greenman with 20 seconds left. Monmouth called time out 18 seconds to play, down 71-66. Coe again split free throws and Njoku made a jumper in the lane to get Monmouth within four. Coe made one more free throw with six seconds left but the Scots couldn't get another basket and fell 73-68.

Metcalf led the Scots with 20 points and nine rebounds while also blocking three shots. Flynn had 12 points and Nkoku added 11.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Monmouth was 8-for-18 from 3-point range and 25-for-50 from the field...The Scots turned the ball over 20 times...Flynn led the team with six assist while Njoku had two steals...The Scots are next in action on Friday at Wartburg with the first game of a four-team tournament in Waverly, Iowa...The will face either Wisconsin Lutheran or Cornell on Saturday in Waverly.