The Monmouth College men's basketball team returned to Midwest Conference action with a 72-53 home win over Lawrence University on Wednesday night. The Scots (8-5, 2-2) had three players in double figures and used a hot start to take control. . 

Jordan Hill (Chicago, Illinois), who was named MWC Performer of the Week earlier in the day, started the game with a bucket and Turner Plumer (Canton, Illinois) scored the next nine Monmouth points. Leading 11-4, the Scots got a bucket from Max Maring (Port Byron, Illinois) and another from HIll. Maring scored five straight and the Scots built a 20-6 lead before the VIkings knocked down a pair of 3-pointers. The scoring came to a crawl from there as Monmouth scored just nine more points over the final 9:20 of the half. Kyle Taylor (Moline, Illinois) had five of those points and David Williams (Loves Park, Illinois) returned to action with a pair of free throws. Lawrence used a 7-2 run to end the half with Monmouth leading 29-24. 

The Vikings cut the Monmouth lead down to four on two occasions early in the second half. Declan Flynn (Monmouth, Illinois) knocked down a pair of 3-pointers on a personal 8-0 run and Ganon Greenman (Alpha, Illinois) scored in the lane. Williams made a 3-pointer for a 47-34 lead and Hill made two technical free throws for a 15-point lead with 10 minutes left. The teams traded points over the next few possessions until Plumer scored four points and Hill added a bucket for a 62-41 lead. Flynn hit another 3-pointer before the Scots went to the bench. Ryne Schimmel (Moline, Illinois) converted a 3-point play and Damarian Stark (Roscoe, Illinois) put the Scots up 22 with a basket before the Vikings made the last field goal of the game. 

Plumer led the way with 15 points while Hill had 14 and Flynn added 11. Jason Huber (Carpentersville, Illinois) led the Scots with seven rebounds, two more than Maring and Hill. Hill led the way with four assists while Williams and Huber both had three steals. 

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Hill has scored 10 or more points seven times this season including five straight…Plumer has hit double digits six times…Monmouth forced 23 turnovers and scored 24 points off turnovers in the game…Wednesday was Monmouth's 100th MWC home game of the coach Skrivseth era and they are 53-47…The Scots are 8-13 against Lawrence under coach Skrivseth, 5-6 at home…Last year the home team won both games and the Scots won their home game 66-56 on Jan. 2…The Fighting Scots play at Beloit College on Saturday at 1 p.m. and the next home game is Wednesday, Jan. 10 at 5:30 p.m. against Cornell.