Fighting Scot Men's Basketball Faces Predicament

Release Date:  December 8, 1999

A combination of tough opponents, a surprising conference foe, a lights-out shooter and a looming layoff has left the Monmouth College Fighting Scots in a strange early season predicament – they have a 1-4 record and are guaranteed of not winning their third game for more than four weeks.

To elaborate, the Scots have been knocked off by a pair of extremely tough Division II teams this season. Central Missouri State University topped Monmouth 112-67 in the Scots’ season opener, and the Mules have gone on to post a record of 6-0. Truman State University, Tuesday night’s opponent, outscored the Scots 16-4 down the stretch for an 86-71 win to run their record to a perfect 5-0.

"Their talent and depth took over," said Glasgow of a TSU team that is currently ranked second in the nation after placing third last year.

The Scots handily defeated Principia in the opener of their Pizza Hut-Econofoods Classic over Thanksgiving, but Lindenwood’s John Copple was unconscious in the second half of the Classic final, scoring 25 of his career-high 30 points after intermission to send Monmouth to an 87-79 defeat.

Finally, the Scots may have been counting on a road win against a Lake Forest team they beat twice last year, but the Foresters have shown they’re the real deal, not only downing Monmouth by 16 points but also defeating highly-touted Illinois College. Lake Forest beat the Blueboys 71-54 and are now tied for first place in the Midwest Conference.

So, after the dust has settled, the Scots have just the one win to their credit, and after Thursday’s home date with MacMurray College at 7 p.m. at Glennie Gym, they aren’t scheduled to play again until Lake Forest visits on Jan. 7.

That may be the day coach Terry Glasgow gets his first crack at his 400th career coaching win, but first Monmouth will have to handle a tough MacMurray team whose strength – inside star Brad Bryan – is the Scots’ weakness.

The weakness has been magnified by the loss of sophomore Chad Schlosser, who Glasgow said only has a "very, very slight possibility" of playing this season due to tendonitis. If Schlosser does indeed take a medical redshirt, he would return next season as a sophomore in terms of eligibility.

Although a weak link through four games, Glasgow said he was "most encouraged by our inside play against Truman." Duane, the center, scored a season-high eight points and power forward Kent Froebe became the fourth different Scot to lead the team in scoring, netting 16 points.

"If Kyle can do that every night, that’ll make us a much better team," said Glasgow, who mentioned that teams are not yet doubling-down on Monmouth’s posts. As a result, the perimeter shooters have a hand in their face more often.

Doubling-down might be an idea on Bryan, who leads MacMurray with a 22.0 ppg average.

"He’s a very talented, physical kid," Glasgow stated. "We’ll have to guard him by committee." Glasgow also said that although known as a low-post scorer, Bryan will stray outside and put up 15-foot jumpers. "He makes the ones you don’t want him to," said the coach.

The rest of the Highlanders are well-balanced, with six other players reaching double figures in at least one game this season. Will Espy, Lacey Tyler, Dave Hernandez and Steve Evans are the major members of Bryan’s "supporting cast."

"There’s no way to predict them," said Glasgow when asked to name other players that might pose problems. "One night a kid will step up for them and score 20 points, and the next night he might have 2."

Monmouth has four men scoring in double-digits, including Froebe, who’s averaging 13.2 points and a team-high 6.2 rebounds. The other leading scorers are Steve Glasgow (14.4), Greg Kloepping (15.8) and Jeff Stenoish (14.0).

After MacMurray leaves town, Glasgow said his players will concentrate on their final exams, which start Monday. The team will then take a break from practice until the first of the year, when they began to prepare for revenge against the suddenly formidable Foresters.

"As long as their big kid (J.R. Jurecko) plays like he did against us, they’ll contend," said Glasgow. Jurecko hit his first eight shots against Monmouth and went on to score 19 points with 12 rebounds. "They’ve always been a competitive and well-coached team."

Knox has also been a surprise, going from getting no votes in the preseason coaches’ poll in November to a 6-0 record in December. What Glasgow said is most impressive about the Prairie Fire’s two MWC wins is that they have come on the road.

"There’s a lot of parity in the league this year," Glasgow concluded. "There’s a lot of youth in the league, and we’re certainly an example of that. I believe the teams that play the best from Jan. 15 to Feb. 15 will be the teams you’ll see in the postseason tourney."