RIPON, Wis. - Ripon's men's basketball team showed why they were voted first in this year's Midwest Conference preseason poll with a dominating 70-51 victory against Luther College Wednesday night in the Red Hawks' 2021-22 season opener. Also receiving votes in this year's D3hoops.com preseason Top 25 poll, Ripon led for the final 35 minutes thanks to shooting 48 percent (27-56) from the field, including 42 percent (8-19) from 3-point range.

Ripon (1-0) converted 56 percent (15-27) of their shots before halftime, including 55 percent (6-11) of their 3-pointers. After four lead changes in the first five minutes, Ripon broke an early tie on a jumper by Jalen Mahone with 15 and a half minutes left in the opening half, which would give the Red Hawks the lead for good. They would go on a 17-3 run during the final seven minutes of the period to open up a 22-point halftime lead as freshman Luke Meinholz connected on a 3-pointer just before halftime.

The Red Hawks would lead by as many as 24 points in the second half. Luther (0-2) battled back to cut that lead to 15 with seven and a half minutes remaining, but that's as close as the Norse would get. Ten Ripon players scored at least three points, while the Red Hawks scored 16 second-chance points.

Ryan Steffes led Ripon with 11 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, while Drew Jorgensen scored 10 points, while making a pair of 3-pointers. Owen Theune added nine points and three rebounds, while David De Valk finished with eight points and a game-high nine rebounds, while also blocking two shots. Ripon held the rebounding edge by a 41-26 margin.

Luther was led by Mat Rohden and Evan Turner, who each scored a team-high seven points. Andrew Lazinbat and Matthew Franzen each added six points in the loss.

Ripon will try to keep things rolling on November 19 when they'll travel to Wooster, Ohio to take part in The College of Wooster Tournament. They will battle Spalding (Ky.) that day at 5 p.m. CST, with a live webcast available at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/wooster/.