APPLETON, Wis. — Andrew Mathison scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Monmouth College men’s basketball team to a 73-59 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Saturday in the season finale at Alexander Gymnasium.
Mathison hit 9-of-15 shots from the floor, including a 25-foot 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring, as the Scots pulled away in the final 10 minutes. Will Jones went 6-for-9 from the floor on his way to 17 points for the Scots (16-7, 13-5 MWC).
Jamie Nikitas scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Vikings (10-13, 8-10). Ryan DePouw added 10 points and finished his career 21st in scoring in Lawrence history with 1,028 points.
Mathison’s alley-oop dunk gave Monmouth a 38-28 lead at the half, but the Vikings rallied midway through the second half.
Lawrence was down 52-39 but got a layup from Mitch Willer and Jeremy Stephani knocked down three consecutive free throws after getting fouled on a 3-point attempt. DePouw then buried a 3-pointer to complete an 8-0 run and trim the Monmouth lead to 52-47 with 10:05 remaining.
Will Jones countered with a 3-pointer for the Scots, and Mathison hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 57-47 with 9:08 left. Lawrence was able to cut the lead back to 62-55 after DePouw hit a 3-pointer with 5:20 remaining, but that’s as close as the Vikings would get.
The Scots responded with an 8-2 scoring run to push the lead to 70-57 and seal the victory.