RIPON, Wis. - Ripon's men's basketball team fell behind early Saturday night and couldn't recover, losing to 11th-ranked UW-Whitewater by a score of 83-61. UW-W scorched the nets to the tune of 57 percent (33-58) shooting, including 75 percent (21-28) in the first half, while also making 44 percent (10-23) of their 3-pointers.

UW-Whitewater (8-0) made their first three shots of the game, getting out to an 8-0 lead in the opening minutes. The Warhawks led 16-2 just five minutes into the game, before Ripon (4-5) made a run of their own, scoring nine of the next 13 points, capped by a three-point play by Cal Schultz to cut the lead to nine. That would be as close as the Red Hawks would get the rest of the night, as the Warhawks led by as many as 21 points in the first half, while taking a 53-33 lead into halftime.

Ripon pulled to within 16 points mid-way through the second half, but UW-Whitewater answered back, leading by as many as 24 in the period. The Red Hawks finished the game shooting 44 percent (24-54) from the field, including 21 percent (4-19) from 3-point range.

Schultz, Trent Jones, and Kyle Rutkowski each finished with 12 points for the Red Hawks, while Jones also recorded team-highs of five rebounds and four assists. Freshman Owen Theune added six points, six rebounds, and three assists off the bench.

UW-Whitewater was led by Andre Brown's 19 points, four rebounds, and three assists, while David Sachs recorded a double-double of 17 points and a game-high 11 assists. Malik Clements, Mitchell Pfeifer, and Derek Rongstad finished with 13, 11, and 10 points, respectively.

Ripon will be in action again on December 29 when they'll travel to Nashville, Tenn. to take part in the Music City Classic against MacMurray College. That game will begin at 3 p.m. at Volunteer State Community College.