RIPON, Wis. -,The Red Hawks men's basketball team suffered a grueling 86-80 overtime victory to Alma College Saturday night, in a game that featured seven ties and seven lead changes, most of which came in the second half. Ripon shot 42 percent (26-69) from the field, while making 13 3-pointers, which is tied for third in school history. Alma countered with a shooting percentage of .491 (28-57), while making 13 3-pointers of their own.

Ripon (7-3) took an early seven-point lead, and would lead by as many as 13 mid-way through the half, but that advantage quickly vanished, as Alma (1-8) ended the half on a 24-11 run, including scoring the final nine points of the period to go into halftime with the score tied at 37.

The second half saw Ripon again take the lead, going up by six mid-way through the period on back-to-back 3-pointers by Ty Sabin and Justin Leistikow. That lead disappeared with five and a half minutes to play on back-to-back 3-pointers by D.J. Beckman. Alma held the lead until the seven second mark when Kyle Loughrin tied the game at 72 with a free throw. The Scots had one final chance to win on the ensuing possession, but a layup bounced off the rim, sending the two teams to an extra period.

Doug Bradfield connected on a 3-pointer for Alma on the opening possession of OT and the Scots would never look back, holding the lead for the remainder of the game. Alma connected on nine of their 10 free throws in the overtime session.

The Red Hawks were led by 32 points from Sabin, who made five 3-pointers to help raise his season scoring average to 29.5 ppg, which ranks second in Division-III. Leistikow added 15 points and 11 rebounds (six offensive) for his second career double-double, while Brendan McCoy recorded eight points off the bench.

Beckman led Alma with 23 points, including six 3-pointers. Scott Nikodemski added 14 points, to go along with a game-high six assists, while Bradfield scored 13.

Ripon will now get ready to resume conference play, as they'll host Knox College on January 3. That game will be played at Ripon's Storzer Center and can be seen live at,http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.