DE PERE, Wis. – For the second year in a row, the Grinnell College men's basketball team will play for the Midwest Conference Tournament title.
 
The third-seeded Pioneers advanced to the championship game with a 98-89 win over second-seeded Monmouth College Friday afternoon. Grinnell will meet top-seeded and third-ranked St. Norbert College, an 85-74 winner over fourth-seeded Ripon College, at 6 p.m. Saturday for the crown, which is accompanied by the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III National Tournament.
 
Two Pioneers reached personal milestones in Friday's game, as Jack Taylor '15 joined the 2,000-point club for his career (counting games played at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse) and Luke Yeager '15 reached the 1,500-point mark.
 
Taylor is the fifth Pioneer to score 2,000 points, while Yeager is the ninth to reach 1,500.
 
Taylor led Grinnell with 28 points, Braedon Bayer '18 had 14, Julian Marx '17 tallied 12 and Yeager scored 10.
 
Taylor also had five assists and three steals, while Bayer also had five assists. Tague Zachary '15 blocked two shots and Nick Curta '17 grabbed seven rebounds.
 
The first half was tight the entire way, with Grinnell leading 48-46 at the break. Monmouth opened up a six-point lead twice in the second half, the last time at 63-57 with 13:04 left.
 
The Pioneers answered with a key six-point run, as Danny Thomas '18 sank two free throws, Taylor made another and Yeager drained a trey to tie things at the 11:14 mark.
 
It was back and forth after that, with Grinnell leading by just one with 2:09 left. That's when Marx caught fire, hitting consecutive 3-pointers to make it 92-85 with :58 left.
 
Monmouth got within five points twice after that, but Taylor and Curta each hit two free throws in the final 29 seconds secure the win.
 
With the win, Grinnell improved to 15-9 while Monmouth finished its campaign at 16-8.