The Fighting Scot men’s and women’s basketball teams celebrated Senior Day with wins on Saturday, sweeping the visiting Beloit Buccaneers in front of full crowd on the home end of Glennie Gym.
The Scots continue their undefeated record in conference play, moving up to 11-0. “It feels great being here with the same guys and the same crowd,” said Senior forward Turner Plumer.
Senior forward Max Maring would start off the scoring for the Scots with a trip to the free throw line, where he knocked down both. Plumer would also get in on the action with a jumper to put the Scots up 4-0. Payton Crims joined the party, scoring a jumper to put the Scots up 6-0, and then went to the free throw line and knocked them both down.
Beloit trailed most of the first half, but after a surge on the offensive side, they managed to close the half out trailing by only two points, 28-30. After seeming like the game had been put away in the first half, a fight from Beloit left the crowd wondering if the Scots’ undefeated record was at stake.
After holding off numerous charges by the Buccaneers to cement a 74-66 victory and stay perfect in conference play. “I don’t think it’ll feel like it’s over until it’s actually over, and I’m just going to miss the guys, it’s a great group of guys, and we have some great accomplishments together,” said Plumer.
Zay Brown led the Scots in scoring with 17 points on the afternoon, followed by Max Maring and Kyle Taylor with 14 and 10 points, respectively. “It’s really all trust. Trusting my teammates, my teammates trusting me. Me and Kyle [Taylor] have been picking and popping a lot in practice every day, and we got a little connection,” said Maring.
Zay Brown goes for the dunk. Photo by Kent Kriegshauser.
Monmouth shot an impressive 19-28 from the charity stripe and shot 49% from field goal range, with 29.4% of those shots coming from beyond the arc. With this victory, the Scots men’s basketball team clinched the first of four spots in the Midwest Conference tournament. This win sets up a crucial showdown with the run-and-gun, three-point-shooting Grinnell Pioneers, who currently sit in second place and only a game behind the Scots in league standings.
The women’s basketball team followed right up with another win over the Buccaneers, with a score of 75-65. Kynlee Stearns led the team in scoring with 18 points on the afternoon, followed by Averi Rangel and Kiersten Cox, with 11 points apiece.
“We’ve been emphasizing rebounding because there’s a lot of times where we get back instead of crashing, so I’m crashing and I can jump a little. I like to go after [rebounds] and get them,” said Stearns.
Monmouth was, again, hot at the free-throw line, shooting 77.8% in the charity stripe throughout the second 40 minutes. The Scots shot 37.5% from the field while making 46.2% of three-point field goals.
Saturday’s result for the men’s squad sets up a crucial showdown with the run-and-gun, three-point-shooting Grinnell Pioneers, who currently sit in second place and only a game behind the Scots in league standings.