Box Score BELOIT, Wis. - Ripon's men's basketball team defeated Beloit 79-67 Wednesday night to improve their season record to 5-0, which marks the program's best start since the 2002-03 season. The win marks Ripon's fifth victory in their last seven meetings with Beloit.

Ripon (5-0, 3-0 MWC) struggled early on, missing their first eight shots of the game. Despite the slow start, the Red Hawks didn't fall behind too much, as Beloit (2-5, 0-4 MWC) missed eight of their first nine shots from the field. Ripon eventually settled down, converting 15 of their final 21 shots of the period, including a trio of Ty Sabin 3-pointers in the final minute and a half, to take a 40-29 lead at the half.

Ripon extended their lead to 22 just five minutes into the second half on a jumper by Liam Lesniak. Beloit would cut that lead to nine with seven minutes remaining, but that's as close as the Buccaneers would get the rest of the night.

Sabin, who is the NCAA's leader in career scoring average (25.2 ppg), led Ripon with 22 points. Isaac Masters added 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals, while Cal Schultz poured in 13 points and five rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. Ripon finished the game shooting 52 percent (28-54) from the field, 53 percent (8-15) from 3-point range, and 88 percent (15-17) from the free throw line.

Beloit was led by Cody Risseeuw's 19 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Darin Empereur added 14 points off the bench, while Andrew Bremner chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds (four offensive). The Buccaneers shot 41 percent (25-61) from the field in the game.

Ripon will try to remain undefeated on Saturday when they'll return home against Knox College. That game will begin at 3 p.m. at Storzer Center in Ripon and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.