Box Score Monmouth's road to the postseason hit a bump Saturday in a 76-66 loss at Lake Forest.

Just a week after the Scots handed Ripon their first Midwest Conference loss, the Scots were aiming to move farther up the standings, but a cold shooting afternoon hampered their efforts. Monmouth hit 18 of their 52 shots, but still rallied from a 17 points first half deficit to nearly knock off the Foresters, tied for third place in the MWC. Trailing 49-32 five minutes into the second half, Will Jones drained a pair of free throws en route to a 13-for-13 night from the line to spark the Scots' rally. Lamont Mitchell then made good on a layup and Paul Engo III drilled a 3-pointer and then added a pair of free throws off a Lake Forest foul to cut the margin to single digits at 49-41 with 12:24 to play.

The Scots stayed within range and trailed just 66-58 with 2:08 to play but the Foresters, who hit just one field goal in the final two minutes, went 9-for-12 from the free throw line in that stretch to hold off the Scots who got 19 points from Jones and Mitchell and 11 from Justin Aluya.

Monmouth hosts rival Knox Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.