RIPON, Wis. - Ripon's men's basketball team shot just 38 percent (21-55) Tuesday night, which marked their second-lowest field goal percentage of the season, en route to a 61-55 loss to Beloit College. The second half told the story, as Beloit erased an eight-point halftime deficit by shooting 65 percent (11-17) after halftime and holding Ripon to just 29 percent (8-28) shooting in the second half.

Ripon (9-7, 5-4 MWC) came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, scoring eight of the game's first 10 points and getting out to an 11-point lead just six and a half minutes into the contest. The Red Hawks extended that lead to 13 on a Ryan Steffes layup with seven minutes left in the half, but Beloit (5-11, 3-6 MWC) was able to cut that lead to five, before going into the locker room down by eight.

The second half saw Ripon extend that lead to double-digits on the first basket of the period, a jumper from Trent Jones. Still leading by eight with just under 12 minutes remaining, Beloit made their move, going on a 15-4 run to take their first lead of the game. The game would remain close for the rest of the night, with Ripon pulling within three on a Seth Kostroski 3-pointer with one and a half minutes to play, but that would be as close as the Red Hawks would get.

Jones finished with a game-high 17 points, to go along with four rebounds and four assists, while Kostroski scored 12 points. Owen Theune added nine points and three rebounds.

Beloit was led by 17 points, eight rebounds, and three steals from Andrew Walters, while Mason Jones added 12 points and five rebounds off the bench. Michael Polakoski finished with 10 points for the Buccaneers, who snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Red Hawks with the victory.

Ripon will try to rebound on Saturday when they'll travel to conference-leading St. Norbert College. That game will begin at 1 p.m. in De Pere, Wis., and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.