Scots Beat Knox for Seventh Straight Time

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (12/07/2025) — The Monmouth College men's basketball team beat Knox for the seventh straight time with a 71-64 road win on Saturday. The Fighting Scots (6-2, 2-0) were without leading scorer and reigning Midwest Conference Player of the Year Zay Brown (Peoria, Illinois) who was in street clothes for Saturday's contest.

Kyle Taylor (Moline, Illinois) and Cam Thomas (Arlington, Texas) answered early Knox buckets with their own and Max Maring (Port Byron, Illinois) scored four straight points. Down 12-8, Kam Banks (Springfield, Illinois) scored and Thomas hit a 3-pointer for a 13-12 lead. Both players scored again and Julian Samuels (Annawan, Illinois) put the Scots up 19-12 with a 3-pointer. Banks kept the run going to 13-0 with a bucket before the hosts ended a 5-minute scoring drought. Banks put the Scots back up by eight and Taylor hit a pair of free throws. Payton Crims (Alsip, Illinois) scored four points in a row and Jason Huber (Carpentersville, Illinois) gave Monmouth a 12-point lead. Knox closed the half with a bucket to cut the Monmouth lead to 32-24.

Knox pulled within three before Huber scored five points in a 40-second span. Thomas hit a 3-pointer and Banks scored but Knox cut the lead to 49-47 with 10:51 to play. The hosts took the lead at 51-49 before Banks hit two free throws. Taylor put the Scots back on top with a 3-pointer and Maring made two free throws. Maring made four more free throws and Taylor scored in the paint for a 62-57 lead. The same duo scored the next four points and Thomas put the Scots on top 68-61 with two free throws. Knox hit a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left and Thomas hit two more free throws. After the Prairie Fire missed two shots, Thomas made a free throw for the final score of 71-64.

Thomas led the Scots with 17 points while Maring had 16, 12 coming at the free throw line. Taylor and Banks both had 11 points and Taylor led the team with six assists. Thomas, Maring and Crims all had seven rebounds and Maring added two blocks. Taylor and Samuels led the team with two steals each.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Thomas scored 44 points in two games against Knox last year ... Taylor has scored at least 11 points in six of his seven career games against Knox ... Maring was 12-for-12 at the line to set a new career-high in FT made and he tied his high from the Rockford game in attempts ... Crims had a career-high seven rebounds while Thomas tied his career high ... Samuels has two steals in both of his games ... The Scots were 25-for-32 (78,1) at the free throw line ... Monmouth won the rebounding battle 41-39,,,Monmouth and Knox have met 232 times, one of the 10th most played rivalries in D3 ... Monmouth leads the series 139-93 with seven straight wins ... The win streak is the longest in the series since Monmouth won eight in a row from 1952-57 ... The Scots also won seven straight from 1988-92 while Knox won seven straight from 1967-61 ... The current senior class has never lost to Knox ... Coach Skrivseth is 21-6 against Knox, the most wins he has against any program ... Skrivseth's teams are 10-4 on the road against Knox ... The teams will play in Monmouth on Feb. 11 ... The Scots are back home next Saturday at 1 p.m. against Lawrence.