MONMOUTH, Ill. – Grinnell College got out to the early lead, but Monmouth College took control and the Pioneers played catch-up the rest of the way in a 94-90 setback in men's basketball action Saturday afternoon.
The Pioneers trailed by double digits with under two minutes to go, but made things interesting as they sliced the gap to four points three times in the final minute. However, Monmouth survived to improve to 9-5 in the Midwest Conference and 14-7 overall.
Grinnell, 7-7 in league play and 11-10 in all games, featured a balanced scoring attack as
Hannes Kogelnik '21 and
Jackson Qualley '22 each scored 22 points and
Aiden Gilbert '23 put in 21. All three also had two steals, with Gilbert dishing out a team-high five assists, as well.
Will Bebee '22 added eight rebounds, two steals and a block,
Brady Vest '21 had two steals and
Brad Geiman '21 a blocked shot.
Grinnell was sharp early. After falling behind following a Monmouth trey,
Will Dubow '21 got a layup and Geiman drained a 3-pointer for a 5-3 lead. The Fighting Scots tied it at 5-all, but
Morgan Walser '21 scored on a layup and Kogelnik converted consecutive 3-pointers to make it a 13-5 lead for the visitors. Monmouth came back, though, and forced a tie before Grinnell got its final lead of 26-24 on Bebee's layup with 7:27 left.
Bebee's dunk two minutes later forced the final tie of the game at 28-all before Monmouth took off for a 38-35 halftime lead.
The Fighting Scots built a nine-point lead early in the second half, but Grinnell charged back and got within one at 49-48 on Qualley's layup. But Monmouth continued to hold command.
Monmouth led by 12 with 1:54 left, but the Pioneers rallied and got within 89-95 on Qualley's 3-pointer with 50 seconds left. Monmouth countered with two free throws and Geiman a layup to make it 91-87 with 23 seconds left. The Fighting Scots hit a trio of free throws after that before Qualley's trey in the waning seconds accounted for the final score.
Grinnell finishes out its home slate next week with two games, beginning with a Wednesday meeting against Illinois College. Action at Darby Gymnasium starts at 5:30 p.m.
