BELOIT, Wis. - Ripon scored 44 points in the paint Wednesday night, en route to a 76-59 victory at Beloit College in what was both team's conference opener. The Red Hawks shot 59 percent (32-54) from the field, while holding Beloit to 46 percent (21-46) shooting.

Ripon (5-1, 1-0 MWC) never trailed in the game, scoring the first five points and never looking back. The Red Hawks built a 10-point lead just six minutes into the contest, while leading by as many as 19 points.

The Red Hawks continued to build their lead in the second half, using a 10-3 run to start the period to take a 25-point advantage with 16 and a half minutes to play. Ripon would lead by at least 15 points the rest of the night.

Trent Jones led Ripon with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while also adding five rebounds, two assists, and four steals. Owen Theune added 11 points and foru reobounds off the bench, while David DeValk and Kyle Rutkowski scored 11 and 10 points respectively, combining to shoot 63 percent (10-for-16) from the field.

Beloit (2-3, 0-1 MWC) was led by Darin Empereur's 19 points and five assists. Michael Polakoski added 17 points off the bench, while Andrew Walters finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Ripon will be in action again on Saturday when they'll host St. Norbert College. That game will begin at 1 p.m. at Willmore Center, and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.