Box Score

MONMOUTH, Ill. - The Ripon men's basketball team opened its 2013-14 conference season with a 90-82 loss at Monmouth College, despite forcing 17 Fighting Scot turnovers. Monmouth made it nearly impossible for the Red Hawks to make a comeback after trailing by 10 at halftime, as the Fighting Scots shot 63 percent (36-57) from the field, including 79 percent (22-28) in the second half.

Ripon (2-2, 0-1 MWC) scored the first point of the game and led for much of the first six minutes in the first half, which saw neither team hold a double-digit lead until Monmouth's Andrew Mathison connected on a jumper just before halftime. That would be as close as the score would be until a Ty Sabin basket pulled Ripon to within eight points with just under two and a half minutes remaining in the second half. Brad Brooks would cut it to six with under one minute left, but that would be as close as Ripon could get.

Kyle Loughrin led the Red Hawks with 21 points, to go along with three assista and two steals, while Sabin added 17 points and four rebounds. Appearing in his first game of the season, Ty Ketz posted 12 points, four assists and four steals in 24 minutes, while Brad Brooks chipped in with 11 points and eight boards.

Monmouth (2-2, 1-0 MWC) was led by Mathison's 25 points on 12-of-14 shooting in 23 minutes off the bench. Cole Jackson added 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Jon Calhoun registered 15 points and eight assists. Nick Marema scored 11 off the bench, as Monmouth's reserves outscored Ripon's bench players, 40-23.

The Red Hawks will try to get back on track Tuesday when they'll travel to Beloit College. That game will begin at 5:30 p.m. and can be seen live on http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/ripon.portal#.