MONMOUTH, Ill. — Troy Miller scored a career-high 27 points in his final game to lead the Lawrence University men’s basketball team to a 96-89 Midwest Conference overtime victory in the season finale at Monmouth College on Saturday.
Miller, a senior guard, went 8-for-11 from the floor on nothing but 3-point attempts to eclipse his previous career high of 21 points. The eight 3-pointers ties the second-highest game total in Lawrence history and is a personal best for Miller, who hit seven triples in a game last season.
Jeremy Stephani added 19 points for the Vikings (10-13, 7-11 MWC), and Jamie Nikitas had 18 points before fouling out. Nikitas finished his career with 1,406 points, good for fourth on Lawrence’s career list. He also shattered the season scoring record with 577 points and the scoring average record at 25.1 points per game.
Ben Peterson picked up 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds for Lawrence before he fouled out, and Connor Weas added 11 points and seven boards.
Lamont Mitchell and Matt Juhola scored 18 points apiece for the Scots (13-10, 9-9).
Lawrence rallied from a nine-point deficit in the final five minutes of regulation and nearly won the game without an overtime. The Vikings were down 71-62 when they went on a 7-1 run courtesy of a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from Stephani and Evan McLaughin’s layup.
Mitchell and Miller traded 3-pointers, and the Vikings tied it at 77-77 on another Stephani 3-pointer with 1:29 left. Miller then hit another 3-pointer and added a free throw to give Lawrence an 81-77 edge with 45 seconds left.
Monmouth’s Will Jones converted a three-point play, and after the Vikings turned it over, Mitchell hit a jumper for an 82-81 lead. McLaughlin was fouled with six seconds left and made one free throw to tie it. Jon Calhoun was short on a layup at the buzzer that would have won it for Monmouth.
The game was tied at 87-87 in overtime when the Vikings took over. Stephani hit a jumper in the lane, and Miller drained a long 3-pointer to put the Vikings up 92-87 with 53 seconds left.
After a Monmouth miss, the Scots were forced to foul. Lawrence hit just 4-of-8 free throws in the final 42 seconds but that was enough as Monmouth had a turnover and a pair of missed 3-pointers to finish the game.