DUBUQUE, Iowa - The University of Dubuque men's basketball team defeated Monmouth College 88-77 on Tuesday night as the Spartans improve to 5-0 for the third time in the last five seasons. Grady Thompson tied a career-high tonight with 29 points.

The Spartans jumped out to an 11-4 lead to open the game, but over an eight minute period Monmouth would even the game at 21-all with 8:19 remaining. Monmouth would get the lead briefly on three separate occasions, but the Spartans were able to use a 9-0 to go back in front 34-26 that was capped off by a Thompson bucket plus the foul shot. The Spartans would end up leading 40-37 at the half.

Monmouth would hit a three-pointer on their opening possession to tie the game at 40 before the Spartans started to build their lead to double digits. After Monmouth took their final lead of the game at 44-42 with 18:38 left, the Spartans offensive started to click, going on a 29-12 run over an eight minute stretch. The Spartans led by as many as 16 points after holding Monmouth to just six made field goals over the final 11:39 of the game.

Thompson tied his career-high with 29 points (season-high), grabbed eight rebounds, and went 9-11 at the free throw line. Jacob Williams added 16 points in 22 minutes after dealing with foul trouble. Both Thompson and Williams have scored in double figures in all five games this season.

Hear from Robbie Sieverding
"It's always nice to protect home floor and our guys battled and executed in the second half. Grady had another solid game scoring the ball for us and Joey also stepped up again. Monmouth has a nice team but I thought the second half we did a much better job executing our game plan. Ethan and Josh also had some really good minutes off the bench."

Dylan Hibicke scored a career-high 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Hibicke has gone back-to-back games scoring in double figures. Joey Coppola IV finished with 10 points in his first start of the season.

The Spartans shot 28-56 (50.0%) from the field, but struggle from beyond the arc with only making five of their 23 attempts. With 25 fouls called on both teams, the Spartans were able to take advantage going 27-36 (75.0%) from the free throw line.

The Spartans are now 5-0 overall on the season.

Up Next
The Spartans will take the Thanksgiving holiday off before opening conference play next Wednesday night (December 3) when they host cross-town rival Loras College. Tipoff from the Stoltz Sports Center is set for 7:30 p.m.