RIPON, Wis. - Ripon lost to UW-Stevens Point Saturday night by a score of 72-49 in a game the Pointers would never trail. UW-Stevens Point shot 49 percent (26-53) from the field, while Ripon converted 37 percent (19-52) of their shots.

Matt Koerner connected on a 3-pointer for UW-Stevens Point (7-1) to take a 3-0 lead in the opening minutes. Ripon (5-4) would tie the score at 11 with 14 minutes left in the half, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the night. Blake Ehrke made a 3-pointer one minute later to give the Pointers a lead that they would never relinquish. The Pointers opened things up at the end of the half, ending the period on a 17-4 run.

UW-SP led by double digits for the entirety of the second half. Their largest lead of the night came with two and a half minutes remaining when Jeven Sachtjen connected on a 3-pointer to take a 26-point lead.

Ripon was led by Trent Jones' 15 points and four rebounds. Seth Kostroski added nine points, while Kyle Rutkowski pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

Brandon Spray led UW-Stevens Point with 14 points, to go along with five boards. Ehrke added 13 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, while Zach Mootz and Garrett Nelson added 12 and 11 points off the bench, respectively.

The Red Hawks will be in action again on January 3 when they'll resume Midwest Conference play to Knox College at 5:30 p.m. That game can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.