Box Score Monmouth erased an 11 point second half deficit, but Ripon rallied from their own double-digit deficit to hand the Scots a 75-74 loss at Glennie Gym.

After the Red Hawks had expanded a 34-26 halftime lead to 42-31 just three minutes into the second half, the Scots steadily inched their way back. A pair of Mike DeDecker 3-pointers were bookends to a Monmouth 13-4 run after Ripon gained their largest lead of the game. Ripon stopped the bleeding briefly but DeDecker started another Scots’ run with a pair of free throws. The senior then drained another 3-pointer after Ben Friday’s two free throws had tied it to give the Scots a 55-52 lead with 9:29 left in the game.

The Red Hawks answered with their own 3-ball, but the tie was short-lived when Nick Marema drained a trey to give the Scots the lead for the fourth time in the game. Chad Thompson’s 3-ball minutes later moved the Scots up 67-57 for their biggest lead of the game. Turnovers on consecutive trips then allowed the Red Hawks to close the gap.

After Ripon had regained a 73-72 lead with 28 seconds remaining, DeDecker drove in for a bucket in the paint, scoring his 25th point of the game to post Monmouth to a 74-73 edge. The Red Hawks countered on a jumper by Taylor Koth with seven seconds left. DeDecker’s jumper after a Monmouth time out rimmed off and Thompson was unable to get a shot off with the offensive rebound as the Red Hawks eked out the win.