MONMOUTH, Ill. -- A pair of critical 3-pointers on Monday doomed the Lawrence University men's basketball team in an 85-75 Midwest Conference loss to Monmouth College at Glennie Gymnasium.
    Monmouth hit back-to-back triples late in the game to pull away, and Lawrence wasn't able to recover.
    Matthew Kaznikov scored a team-best 20 points and connected on 5-of-9 shots from beyond the 3-point line to lead the Vikings (5-9, 2-3 MWC). Adnan Sarancic posted a double-double for the Vikings with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds to go with two steals and a block.
    Johnny Semany added 11 points and four assists for Lawrence, and Nick Hesch came off the bench to score 10 points and grab two rebounds.
    The game was tied at 41-41 at the half, but Monmouth (7-6, 3-1) pulled out to a 64-54 lead with 10:25 left in the game.
    Lawrence was still down 10 when Parker Prahl, who finished with eight points and five rebounds, hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 68-61. Hesch followed with another 3-pointer, and the Vikings closed to 68-64. 
    Monmouth pushed the lead back to 72-64, but Semany hit a jumper and Elliot Jung, who had nine points and three rebounds, followed with another jumper, to slice the lead to 72-68 with 6:05 remaining.
    Kyle Taylor countered with a layup for the Scots, and Lawrence was down 74-69 when Taylor and David Williams hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Monmouth an 80-69 lead.
    Lawrence never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
    The Vikings shot a sparkling 46.4 percent (13-28) from 3-point range, but Lawrence went just 8-for-15 (53.3 percent) from the foul line.
    Lawrence returns to action on Saturday when the Vikings travel to Grinnell College.