Men’s Hoops make MWC Tourn.

 With the opportunity to clinch the final spot in the Midwest Conference tournament, Fighting Scots men’s hoops bested league leading St. Norbert 74-63.

From the get-go, the game was cl-ose as midway through the first half, Devin Yocum evened the score at 15 off a jumper in the paint. However, over next five-minutes the Green Knights tested the Scots resolve, as they opened up a 27-19 lead. The leaders for Monmouth stepped up sparking an eight-point run off a pair of threes’ by D.J. Swift and a jumper by Will Carius. That run kept the Scots close as they went to the halftime break down 32-30.

Monmouth came out of the break with momentum as they seized the lead in the opening minutes. Freshman Jonathan Oradiegwu fired up the crowd as he turned defense into offense with a steal and transition dunk lifting the Scots to a five-point lead. St. Norbert would not be easily rattled, as they fired back with a six-point run to recapture the lead.

Down the stretch, D.J. Swift’s shoot-ing from beyond the arch proved pivotal in helping lift the Scots over the Green Knights. Swift connected on consecutive threes to turn a two-point deficit into a four-point lead. Will Carius converted a pair of three-point plays to stretch the lead to eight.

Norbert cut the deficit to five with 4:41 remaining but Swift once again connected on back-to-back threes, stretching the lead to double-figures. The Green Knights whittled the lead to seven, but it was too little too late.

Will Carius led the way in scoring with 25 points and 6 boards. D.J. Swfit was a close second with 23 points off a sizzling 7 of 13 shooting performance from three.

The win earned the Scots a Midwest Conference tournament matchup with St. Norbert on Fri. at 7 PM in De Pere, Wis.

Tate Heiple
Sports Editor