RIPON, Wis. -,On a night where the NCAA's second-leading scorer Ty Sabin shot an uncharacteristic 4-for-13 from the field, Ripon forward Justin Leistikow filled that void, leading the Red Hawks to a 72-63 victory over Lawrence on Wednesday. Leistikow literally couldn't miss, scoring a career-high 21 points on 8-for-8 shooting, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range and making both of his free throw attempts. He led Ripon's offensive attack, which shot 46 percent (25-55) from the field.

Leistikow wasted no time getting in a groove, scoring Ripon's first nine points during the game's first three minutes. That helped Ripon (11-5, 8-3 MWC) get out to an early 17-7 lead. The Red Hawks took their largest first half lead of 12 on a Kyle Loughrin jumper with just under eight minutes left in the period. As hot as they started the half, that's how cold they finished it, missing 10 of their final 11 shots to let Lawrence (5-10, 3-7 MWC) back in the game. Trailing for the majority of the period, Peter Winslow gave Lawrence a one-point halftime lead when he connected on a 3-pointer as time expired.

The two teams continued to battle in the second half, with neither leading by more than three points for the first seven and a half minutes. Lawrence established their largest lead of five with just under 10 minutes to play, but that lead was erased when Loughrin scored eight points in the next minute to give Ripon a one-point advantage. Leistikow followed that with a 3-pointer, which was part of a 19-5 run that gave Ripon a 10-point lead. That would be cut in half in the final minutes, but the Vikings wouldn't get closer than that.

Leistikow added eight rebounds on the night, while Loughrin finished with 19 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Sabin scored 15 points in what was his lowest scoring output of the season. Ripon scored 18 points off 11 Lawrence turnovers, while committing just nine miscues themselves.

Lawrence was led by Ryan DePouw's 16 points, five rebounds, and three assists, while Winslow added 10 points, making three 3-pointers, and pulled down four rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench.

Ripon will hope to build on the victory next week when they'll face MWC-leading and defending conference champion #16 St. Norbert College. That game will begin at 7:30 p.m. on January 27 in De Pere, Wis. and can be seen live at,http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.


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