Monmouth finds themselves locked in a tie for second place in the Midwest Conference after Lawrence clipped the Scots 82-77 Saturday and Ripon outlasted Grinnell 104-71. The Scots and Red Hawks enter the final six games knotted at 8-4 in the MWC.
 
Lawrence jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the first five minutes before the Scots began to hit their stride. Trailing 26-16 with 8:21 to play in the first half Dee Hyler scored Monmouth's next seven points, netting a team-high 23 to score 1,006 points in his collegiate career, and Trey Swearingen buried a 3-pointer to pull the Scots within one at 27-26 with 4:46 left in the opening half. Hyler added a pair of game-tying free throws minutes before the half, but the Vikings inched out to a 36-30 lead at the break.
 
The Scots kept the pressure on in the second half after falling behind by a dozen early. Jake Rueter's 3-ball, a Justin Batterton bucket on his way to a 22-point day, and another trey from Swearingen cut the margin to 47-43 with 13:33 left. A Hyler layup at the 9:49 mark cut the deficit to one at 58-57 – the closest since the 2:54 mark of the first half. Lawrence, which never trailed in the second half, canned a pair of threes in the final minute to hold off the charging Scots.
 
Monmouth returns home to host Cornell Wednesday at 5:30.