Ripon College Athletics

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - In a game that featured nine ties and 15 lead changes, Ripon walked away with a 67-63 road victory against Illinois College Saturday afternoon. The win gives the Red Hawks their third consecutive victory and wins in six of their last seven contests.

Illinois College (3-4, 1-3 MWC) scored the game's first four points, before Ty Sabin gave Ripon (5-2, 4-1 MWC) their first lead of the day, scoring the team's first five points. IC would get back in front shortly and led for much of the first period, but a 3-pointer by Sabin gave Ripon the lead with four minutes left in the half. After Illinois College took the lead yet again, Sabin connected on another 3-pointer with just seconds remaining to give the Red Hawks a 28-26 halftime lead, giving him 16 points at the break, while converting all four of his 3-point shots.

Ripon continued to lead in the second half, building an 11-point lead thanks to nine consecutive Sabin points in the first three minutes after halftime. Illinois College then scored 11 consecutive points to get back in the game, taking the lead with 11 minutes remaining. After the lead changed hands several times, Brendan McCoy gave Ripon a five-point lead on a basket with one minute left. The Blueboys would then score five consecutive points to tie the game at 63 with 19 seconds on the clock. That set the stage for Sabin once again, sinking his sixth 3-pointer of the day to give Ripon the lead for good with just seven seconds remaining.

Sabin finished with a game-high 34 points on 12-of-18 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds. Justin Leistikow added 10 points and nine rebounds, while McCoy scored seven points. The Red Hawks made 50 percent (9-18) of their 3-pointers in the game.

Illinois College was led by Cody Hildebrand's 18 points and three rebounds, while Mitchell Patterson and Brad Herrmann each scored nine. Illinois College was held to just 34 percent (22-64) shooting, while Ripon converted on 46 percent (21-46) of their shots.

The Red Hawks will be in action again on December 19 in San Antonio, Texas when they'll face Schreiner University at 4 p.m. That game can be seen live at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/trinitytigers/.