DE PERE, Wis. - For the third consecutive season, Ripon's men's basketball season has ended in the Midwest Conference Tournament semi-finals, losing to third-ranked St. Norbert College Friday night, 85-74. The Red Hawks managed to stay in the game thanks to a hot hand from behind the arc, as they shot 44 percent (10-23) from 3-point range, but that was not enough to overcome St. Norbert's 51 percent (30-59) shooting from the floor.

Ripon (15-9) proved they could play with St. Norbert (23-1) early on, getting out to an 13-7 lead just five minutes into the contest, as senior Kyle Loughrin outscored the Green Knights all by himself, with eight points in that span. That was followed by 10 consecutive points from SNC, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers to give them their first lead of the game. St. Norbert would go up by as many as 14 in the half, but Ripon battled back, scoring the final five points of the half on a 3-pointer by Jordan Stiede and a jumper by Ty Sabin to go into halftime trailing 40-32.

After St. Norbert opened the second half with a D.J. DeValk jumper, Loughrin connected on consecutive 3-pointers to cut that lead to four and the deficit would remain in single digits for the majority of the game. With St. Norbert leading by nine with a minute and a half remaining, Loughrin continued his shooting display, connecting on his third 3-pointer of the game, before scoring another basket with just under one minute to play to bring the Red Hawks within five. That would be as close as Ripon could get however, as St. Norbert connected on all six of their free throws in the final minute, connecting on 83 percent (19-23) of their foul shots on the night.

Loughrin ended his college career with a 29-point performance, to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Sabin added 17 points, five rebounds, and six assists for the Red Hawks, as he finishes the season with 670 points, which is just 27 short of the school's single season scoring record. Sabin's season scoring average of 27.9 points per game ties Lud Wurtz's 37-year-old school record, while his 66 3-pointers is tied for third in school history for a single season and makes him just the second Ripon player to ever make more than 65. Justin Leistikow scored eight points Friday night, including a pair of 3-pointers, while pulling down five boards.

Steven Hofacker led St. Norbert with 24 points, five rebounds, and seven blocked shots. Andrew Schwoerer added 22 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals, while DeValk finished with 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Ripon finishes the season with the ninth-highest 3-point percentage in school history (.397). This marks Ripon's fifth consecutive winning season, winning at least 13 games in each of those years. They have won 15 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 12 years.,



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