RIPON, Wis. - The Ripon men's basketball team couldn't have had a better start to Friday night's season opener against UW-Whitewater, holding a lead for the first 32 minutes of the game. Unfortunately, the game is 40 minutes long and UW-W used a 19-0 run to take a lead with eight minutes remaining, which they would never relinquish, en route to a 74-60 win for the Warhawks.

Ripon (0-1) scored the first five points of the contest, and 11 of the first 13. UW-Whitewater (1-0) would cut the Red Hawks' lead to four mid-way through the first half, but Ripon would take a 28-19 lead into the locker room, as they held the Warhawks to just 31 percent (8-26) shooting in the first half.

The Red Hawks continued to control the game in the second half, taking their largest lead of 14 on a Ty Ketz layup just two minutes into the period. After UW-Whitewater cut into that lead, Ripon went up by 13 on a Koy Brecklin layup with 12 minutes remaining in the game. That's when the Warhawks flipped a switch, showing why they have won the Division-III National Championship in two of the last four seasons. UW-W scored the next 19 points in less than six minutes to take a 56-50 lead. Ripon would cut that lead to five, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the way, with the Warhawks shooting 71 percent (20-28) in the second half.

Ripon shot 36 percent (19-53) on the night, including 18 percent (3-17) from 3-point range, while committing 11 turnovers. They were led by Ketz, who scored a team-high 19 points, which included sinking all nine of his free throws. Ty Sabin added 10 points and five rebounds, while Justin Leistikow added seven points, six rebounds and a team-high three assists.

UW-Whitewater was led by Trinson White's 21 points, with all but one of those coming in the second half. Drew Bryson added 13 points and four rebounds, while Andre Brown chipped in with 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.

The Red Hawks will try to rebound on November 21 in their conference opener against Lawrence University. That game will begin at 1 p.m. in Ripon and can be seen live at,http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.
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