Box Score It's gotten extremely crowded near the top of the Midwest Conference after Monmouth was tripped up by Knox 77-73 Wednesday night, dropping the Scots into a three-way tie for second with Ripon and Lake Forest.

 Monmouth never led after the first three minutes, but fought back from an 11-point deficit with 2:01 to play and pulled within one at 74-73 on  a pair of D.J.Swift free throws. Swift had drained a crucial 3-pointer on the previous possession to cut the Fire's lead to two at 73-71. Two freshmen - Swift and Stephon Bobbitt hit double digits for the Scots, Swift pacing the team with a career-high 26 points, making 7 of his 11 3-point attempts. Bobbitt also turned in a career-high with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Knox had taken a 33-19 lead with 5:31 left in the first half before Paul Engo II sank a pair of free throws and a jumper to spark Monmouth's 17-4 run to close the first 20 minutes.

The put the Scots into a three-way tie with Ripon and Lake Forest after each won their games Wednesday evening - Ripon an 80-71 winner at Beloit and Lake Forest posting a 67-52 win at Illinois College.