BELOIT, Wis. - Entering the day, Ripon's men's basketball team hadn't lost since the calender turned to February. That changed Wednesday night, as the Red Hawks lost at Beloit College 85-77, snapping Ripon's winning streak at a season-high four games.

The Red Hawks (14-8, 12-5 MWC), who already have a spot in the 2016 MWC Tournament locked up, took an early 12-4 lead in Wednesday's game. They would extend that lead to 13 on a jumper by Ty Sabin with five and a half minutes left in the half. That lead would gradually disappear over the last few minutes of the period, as Beloit (11-12, 9-9 MWC) ended the half on a 19-6 run, capped by a shot from the other side of half-court by Andrew Bremner as time expired to send the teams to the locker room tied at 38.

Beloit took control of the game early in the second half and would never trail the rest of the night. The Buccaneers opened the period on a 12-2 run in the first four minutes to take a 10-point advantage. After Beloit took their largest lead of 15 with 11 minutes to play, Ripon began to mount a comeback, cutting that lead to three on a Ty Ketz 3-pointer with six and a half minutes remaining. After Beloit extended their lead back to eight, Sabin and Ketz connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to pull within two with three and a half minutes on the clock. That would be as close as Ripon would get, as Beloit made all six of their free throws in the final minutes.

Ripon was led by Sabin's game-highs of 37 points and five assists, improving his league-leading scoring average to 27.1 points per game. In Ripon's last three games, Sabin is averaging 41.3 ppg on 61 percent (23-38) shooting from 3-point range. Ketz chipped in with 15 points and two steals, while Nathan Larson scored 10 points.

Steve McAfee, Jr. led Beloit with 31 points and 14 rebounds, while Bremner finished with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 5-for-6 from 3-point range. Rudy Bentley, Jr. added 17 points, five rebounds and a team-high four assists for the Buccaneers.

The Red Hawks will now have one final tune-up before competing in the MWC Tournament, as they will return home for their regular season finale Saturday at 1 p.m. against Knox College. That game will also double as Senior Day, honoring Ketz and Justin Leistikow.