V-Hawks Outlast Eagles on the Road

ELIGIN, Ill. – The Viterbo University Men's Basketball team held on to win by one point, 72-71, at Judson University (Ill.) on Wednesday night. The V-Hawks improve to 2-0 while the Eagles drop to 0-1.

Judson would take control early in the game, with Nehemiah Jones' layup putting them up 13-6. Jack Monis scored the first six points for the V-Hawks, until Luke Spink made a layup at the 12:47 mark. The Eagles took their largest lead of the game with 9:08 left in the first half, 19-11. Alex King's 3-pointer on the next possession began to cut into that lead, followed by a Garrett Locy steal to a Ben Olson dunk. While Monis brought the game back within one with a jumper at 6:15, Jones extended the lead to 28-21 with three minutes left. Robert Cuntiz's three, Dakota Mannel's layup, and Monis' steal left the V-Hawks trailing by one 29-30 at the half.

Monis led Viterbo in the first half with 10 points and four rebounds, and Mannel added four points and two assists while the V-Hawks shot 39.3% as a team and 28.6% from three.

Jones and Javaris Wiggins each had seven first half points for the Eagles who shot 40.6% from the field and 16.7% from three.

Olson's three-pointer two minutes into the second half gave the V-Hawks their first lead of the game 35-32. The teams traded five lead changes over the next three minutes, until King's layup at 10:06 gave Viterbo the lead, and they would not trail again. Olson converted an and-one at eth 3:40 mark, followed by a Monis to give Viterbo their biggest lead 68-61 at 2:58. After late folding, Jack Keller hit a deep three to close the game to 72-71 and although Viterbo missed a pair of free throws, their defense held and the Eagles would not even attempt a game winning shot.

Monis led all players with 20 points and eight rebounds. Olson and King both reached double digits points as well with 12 apiece. King also added five boards while Olson recorded two steals. Mannel had a team-high four assists to go with two steals and six points.

Keller was the high scorer for the Eagles with 19 points, Jones had nine points and eight rebounds, while Anterrious Rhyan had nine points, five assists and three steals.

The V0Hawks return to the hardwood on Wednesday, November 9 for their home opener against Edgewood College at 7 PM.