Shoots and scores: Singleton goes for 36 points

By: Mallory Mulvihill
Asst. Sports Editor

The Monmouth College men’s basketball team’s fate going into the first four games of the season was questionable. After hearing that the season could be an “interesting” one and they would have to “rebound” from what was referred to as a “disappointing season,” the Fighting Scots pulled off three straight wins to start off the season losing only to division II school, Central Missouri State, in the first game of the year.

On Nov. 18, the men traveled to Missouri to take on the Mules from Central Missouri. The Fighting Scots have faced the Mules every year for the last 18 years and have never won. Knowing that the Mules are always tough competition, the Scots go into the game looking to see what they need to work and improve upon. Defense being a big problem from the team a year ago, coach Terry Glasgow was looking for a defensive improvement in his Scots. That is just what he got. By looking at the scoreboard and seeing that the Scots lost 81-53, one would think that there was nothing taken from this game but a heart-wrenching 28 point loss, but the Scots allowed the second fewest number of points to be scored against them. Granted, the Mules were up by 47 at one point and out-rebounded the Scots 47-22, but the Scots made a late comeback going on a 19-4 run. Junior and lone returning starter Joe Terwelp picked up right where he left off from last season, scoring 24 points on 10-20 shooting and 9 rebounds.

The men then traveled to Jacksonville, Ill. to take on MacMurray in a game right before Thanksgiving on Nov. 21. One of the biggest reasons the Scots pulled off this victory, especially being down nine at one point in the second half, was a balanced scoring attack from their starting five. Starting point guard, Caleb Bennett, led the team in scoring with 23, followed by Terwelp with 18, senior Raun Singleton with 17, and juniors Blaise Rogers with 13 and Andy Moore with 12. The men went into the half with a four point lead and shot a solid 42 percent from the field. Coming out of the break, the Scots quickly lost their lead and found themselves down nine with only seven minutes taken off the clock. The Scots then turned things around and outscored their opponents by 18 points and formed a nine-point lead of their own with three minutes to play. Moore put in a stellar performance with his first career double-double. The Scots shot an impressive 50 percent from the field during the game, along with 39 percent from behind the arc.

The Scots entered their own Thanksgiving tournament on Nov. 25-26 not knowing really what to expect. They were riding high off of their first season win right before the holiday, and hoped to take that momentum into the tournament against Hannibal-LaGrange and William Penn University.

The men opened the tournament on Nov. 25 against Hannibal-LaGrange in what was more or less a sloppy game from both teams, but nevertheless a game for them to put in the win column. The Scots pulled of a 61-58 victory which was a battle down to the last second of the game. The game, which was all-in-all a low-scoring game started off slow and left the Scots down 24-23 at the half. It was brought within one point on two made free throws by sophomore Luke Reschke with five seconds left. The Scots came out of the break and took the lead after Terwelp hit a three-pointer from the top of the key and the game remained close for the rest of the half, which included seven lead changes. Sharp-shooter Singleton, struggled from the field only going 2-11 and was told that is “wasn’t his night” by Glasgow as he walked off the court. With Singleton off the court, someone off the bench needed to step up and that came to senior Josh Reschke, who was 3-5 from the field (2-3 from behind the arc) and scored 8 points in twelve minutes. Reschke hit his threes at the right times, putting the Scots ahead, including one with less than six minutes to play to put the men ahead 53-50. He quickly followed with a lay-up to give the Scots a five point cushion. The Scots then went 6-6 from the foul line down the stretch, which was a problem which plagued the men last year, to retain their lead and put another game in the win column. Terwelp led the Scots with 17 points and Rogers added 11.

In the second game of the tournament, the men played William Penn University, which turned out to be quite an interesting yet exciting game. The men pulled off the win, 86-73, to cap off their three-game winning streak. The Scots came out of the gate ready to play going up 7-0 before WPU scored on a fast break lay-up nearly five minutes into the game. The Scots went into the break with just a five point lead 39-34. In the second half, the Scots had as much as a ten point lead early on in the half, which at one point was brought within one with 7:55 to go in the game. The men pulled the lead to five when, all of a sudden, the game’s momentum shot straight into the hands of the Scots, who took the opportunity and ran with it. The William Penn coach was slapped with two technical fouls and ejected from the game, along with his wife, after he yelled at the referee for making a bad call and then stormed onto the court. Singleton calmly stepped to the line and sank all four free throws. After the coach was ejected from the game, a William Penn player was asked to leave after he dragged Rogers to the ground twice in a row. The men proved themselves from the charity stripe again going 12-12 in the last 45 seconds of the game. Singleton, who was having an off night the game before, lit up William Penn from the field going 8-14 from the field, 5-10 from behind the arc, and set a new school record from behind the free throw line going 15-15. Singleton end his night with 36 points. Terwelp put in another solid performance scoring 23 points and earning himself the conference’s first player of the week.

The men open up conference action Dec. 1-2 against Carroll and Lawrence on the road. The men are picked to finish last in the conference and according to Coach Glasgow, “our seed is well deserved based on last year, but we are hoping to fly under the radar and take some teams by surprise.” The men will be home again Jan. 6 against Illinois College.