GALESBURG, Ill. - The Ripon men's basketball team overcame a poor shooting first half (33 percent) to shoot a scintillating 64 percent (14-22) in the second half, helping them defeat Knox College by the narrowest of margins, 70-69. Neither team led by more than eight in a game that featured nine ties and 12 lead changes.

Early on, it certainly didn't appear that Ripon would have their hands full, as they scored the game's first eight points and didn't allow Knox to score in the first five minutes. That quickly changed however, as Knox went on an 8-2 run to tie the score at 10. Jordan Stiede then put Ripon back in front with a 3-pointer, but that lead would not last. Knox answered with an 11-1 run to take a five-point lead of their own, only to see Ripon score the next six points to take the lead right back. After the lead changed hands a couple more times, it was only fitting that Knox's Mitch Murphy hit a jumper just before halftime to tie the score at 27.

Knox would take the lead in the opening minutes of the second half, but 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions, two by Ty Sabin and one from Kyle Loughrin, would give Ripon the lead back yet again. With Ripon trailing by three and less than a minute and a half remaining, Loughrin brought the Red Hawks within one with a pair of free throws. He sank two more foul shots with 50 seconds to play to give Ripon the lead. Knox's ensuing possession resulted in an Orlando Brown putback to give the Prairie Fire the lead, and setting Ripon's Justin Leistikow up to be the hero. After a missed layup by Loughrin, Leistikow soared in for the offensive rebound and putback for his only basket of the game to put Ripon ahead for good with seven seconds on the clock.

Loughrin and Sabin each finished with 24 points. Nineteen of Sabin's 24 came in the second half, as he became just the second player in school history to score more than 650 points in one season. Sabin is now 44 points shy of the 37-year-old record with at least one more game still to play. His two 3-pointers in the game also gives Sabin 64 for the season, which ranks fourth in school history and is just four shy of the second-highest total, while his 124 career 3-pointers already ranks sixth in school history. Not even through two complete seasons at Ripon, Sabin's 1,123 career points ranks 21st in school history.

The victory gives Ripon its fifth consecutive winning season and locks them into the number four seed at next weekend's MWC Tournament where they will battle top seed and the fourth-ranked team in Division-III, St. Norbert College. That semifinal game will begin at 8 p.m. in De Pere, Wis., with the winner squaring off with the Monmouth/Grinnell winner in the MWC Championship Game Saturday at 6 p.m.