Fighting Scots Look for 100th Win in Historic Series

February 19, 1999
MONMOUTH, IL – The Monmouth College men’s basketball team travels to Galesburg to face its arch-rival Knox College on Saturday night with several numbers in mind. The game will mark the 177th meeting between the two Division III schools in men’s basketball and the Fighting Scots currently hold a 99-77 lead in the hard-court series that traces its origins all the way back to the 1907-08 season. If Monmouth wins on Saturday, it will be the first team to reach 100 victories in the series and it will also be the first time the Scots have defeated the same team 100 times (for the record, the next-closest opponent is Coe College with a series mark of 78-59). Monmouth’s all-time record now stands at 1,044-770 and the college is one of only 25 programs in NCAA Division III history with more than 1,000 career victories.

The Fighting Scots also need a victory for a more important short-term goal. A win would all but clinch a berth in the Midwest Conference postseason tournament, which will be hosted by defending league champion Ripon on February 26-27. Monmouth is currently tied with Lawrence for fourth place in the league standings with a conference record of 9-6 and needs to finish 10-6 to create a three-way tie with the Vikings and Illinois College for the final spots in the league tournament. If all three teams are tied, Monmouth would seem to have a tiebreaker advantage over the other two schools. The Scots are attempting to qualify for their 16th postseason appearance in the last 20 years and their eighth in the decade of the ‘90s in hopes of earning the college’s first MWC men’s basketball championship title since the 1989-90 season.

Monmouth and Knox first squared off in the 1907-08 season with the Scots winning the first contest by a 44-25 score. Since the end of World War I the two teams have met twice yearly (with the exception of the WWII years of 1944 and 1945) and the rivalry has not disappointed the local basketball faithful. Four games have gone into overtime with Monmouth winning three of them, the most recent a 95-92 thriller in the 1995-96 season finale. Monmouth has swept the annual two-game series 8 times since 1980 and the Scots have another chance for a season sweep on the heels of their 80-71 victory in December. However, the Prairie Fire have held their own on their home court in Memorial Gymnasium and posted a 106-84 win last year in Galesburg. On a positive note, the two teams have alternated victories in the last four games at Knox and the Fighting Scots are hoping that trend will continue this Saturday. A Monmouth win will give them the numbers they need to keep their season alive – 100 wins over Knox, a 10-6 league record and another trip to the postseason.