BELOIT, Wis. - Ripon's men's basketball team won its Midwest Conference-best seventh consecutive game Wednesday night with a 71-63 victory at Beloit College, avenging a loss to the Buccaneers earlier in the season. The Red Hawks shot 53 percent (27-51) from the field, including 55 percent (6-11) from 3-point range, as they led for the final 32 minutes of the contest.

Beloit (5-11, 3-6 MWC) led for much of the first seven minutes, before Ripon (11-5, 7-2 MWC) scored nine consecutive points to take the final lead of the game mid-way through the first half. The Red Hawks closed the half on a 24-9 lead, en route to a 13-point advantage at halftime.

The Buccaneers chipped into that lead in the second half, using a 15-6 run to cut Ripon's lead to four with under 14 minutes to play. That lead would be cut to three with under eight minutes remaining, and would be whittled down to two with 51 seconds on the clock on a 3-pointer by Mason Jones. That's as close as Beloit would get however, as Trent Jones answered with a 3-pointer of his own on the ensuing possession, and Tyson Tully sealed the victory with a three-point play with under 10 seconds left.

Jones led the Red Hawks with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. Tully added 13 points and four rebounds, while Cal Schultz chipped in with 12 points and six boards.

Beloit was led by Tristan Shoup's monster game of 32 points on 15-of-22 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds. Jones added nine points off the bench on 3-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.

The Red Hawks currently sit in third place in the MWC standings. They will be back in action again on Saturday when they'll host conference-leading St. Norbert College. That game will begin at 1 p.m. at Willmore Center in Ripon, and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.