Monmouth maintained their hold on third place in the Midwest Conference standings with three games to play despite a 90-65 road loss Wednesday night to rival Knox.
 
Trey Swearingen burned the Prairie Fire with 16 points on 6-fo-8 shooting which included a 4-for-6 effort from 3-point range but the Fire broke free in the first half and led the rest of the way. Devin Yocum scored the Scots' first two buckets and Dee Hyler added another in front of two Justin Batterton free throws before the Scots went cold. Knox broke loose on a 12-1 run and inched ahead 52-26 by the half.
 
Hampered by an 8-for-25 first half shooting effort, the Scots heated up in the second 20 minutes with a 17-for-30 performance, but could gain no ground on the Fire.
 
The Scots remained in third, two games behind Ripon for second. Monmouth will host the Red Hawks Saturday in a 1 p.m. matchup.