MONMOUTH, Ill. – It's only fitting the top two men's basketball teams in the Midwest Conference grind it out in a tug-of-war affair to end the regular season.
 
Grinnell College and Monmouth College battled to overtime Saturday afternoon, with the Fighting Scots emerging with a 100-97 victory in a game where the Pioneers set the program's single-season steals record with 429.
 
Monmouth, the MWC regular-season champ, also defeated Grinnell by three points last month on the Pioneers' court.
 
The Pioneers, who finished second in the regular season standings at 11-5 while moving to 18-7 overall, got 19 points from Gabe Garcia '27, 13 from John Vincent '26 and 11 apiece from Zach Rosen '26 and Strahinja Nikolic '27. Nikolic's total is a career-high.
 
Rosen, Nick Lundy '27 and Vincent all had six boards and Rosen and Garcia dished out three assists apiece. Dillon Gestring '25 blocked two shots and Sean Murphy '26 led the charge in steals with a career-best three.
 
Monmouth, 14-2 in the league and 20-5 overall, rallied late in the first half to take a 46-38 lead into the locker room. After the Fighting Scots scored to open the second half, the Pioneers raced back into contention as Rosen made a 3-pointer and free throw and Mitch Priest '25 sank a trey to make it a 48-45 game. 
 
A run later turned a five-point deficit into a two-point lead. Leone began things with a trey, followed by a Monmouth basket. Nikolic then connected on a 3-pointer, Garcia scored inside and then added a free throw for a 56-54 Pioneer lead.
 
Things were nip and tuck the rest of the half, with Garcia's basket in the final minute forcing an 87-all tie and overtime.
 
The Pioneers fell behind 92-89 early in the extra period before Harris Dar '28 made a free throw and Garcia two more to tie the game with 3:15 to go. Consecutive buckets by Monmouth put the hosts ahead to stay. A last-second 3-point attempt by Grinnell was off the mark, preserving the win.
 
During the game, Leone moved up to second all-time for single-season steals at Grinnell with 84 and 11th in career steals with 147. Garcia's 142 free throws made this season rank 13th and Dar's 123 assists are 14th.
 
On the season all-time board, the Pioneers' 519 free throws and 1,134 rebounds both rank fourth, the team's 959 field goals are fifth and 493 assists rank ninth.
 
Grinnell will play third-seeded Illinois College next Friday in the MWC Tournament at Monmouth.