After five consecutive conference losses, Monmouth College’s men’s basketball team got back in the win column by extinguishing the Knox College Prairie Fire on Feb. 14 in Galesburg.

The Scots trailed their rivals by two points with 3:37 remaining in the second half, but a series of clutch plays helped Monmouth earn an important road victory, 58-52.

“It’s big any time you can beat those guys at Knox, I mean it’s a tough environment to play in, and any time you can get a win over there it’s a big deal for us,” senior Joe Terwelp said. “This year, we beat them here, and we beat them there, so it’s a good feeling that we swept them.”

Freshman Alex Tanney drained a huge three point field goal with 3:37 left in the game, which put the Scots up by one point.

After a defensive stand, Terwelp made a lay-up to put the Scots up by three points with 2:45 remaining in the game.

Knox responded with a lay-up of their own, and then neither team could put the ball in the basket until Monmouth’s sophomore Scott Ubbenga made the most important field goal of the game, as he drained a three pointer with just 17 seconds left.

Ubbenga’s triple made it a two possession game, as it made the score 56-52. Knox failed to score on their next possession, and Ubbenga iced the game by making two clutch free throws with six seconds remaining.

Terwelp turned in yet another stellar performance for the Scots, and he led the team with 14 points. He also gathered five rebounds in the contest. Although Monmouth is not going to make the playoffs this year, Terwelp has made the most of his senior season, and he is leading the team in points (16.1 per game) and rebounds (6.8 per game). Monmouth head coach Mark Vershaw called Terwelp the best player in the Midwest Conference.

Ubbenga had one of his best performances of the season for the Scots, as he finished with 12 points in 19 minutes.

The win moved the Scots to 5-14 overall, with a 5-8 mark in the MWC. They have three remaining games this season, and their final home game will be against Illinois College on Feb. 15.

Monmouth will round out their season with road games against Grinnell College on Feb. 18 and Lake Forest College on Feb. 20.

Terwelp said he is looking forward to trying to help his team earn a few more victories before his collegiate career comes to an end.

“I just want to play as hard as I can, do everything I can for the team,” Terwelp said. “We want to go out on a winning note, so we’re just going to keep fighting, keep playing and hopefully we can get a few more victories.”

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