The Ripon College men's basketball team's offense came to life on Saturday afternoon as the Red Hawks dropped 98 points to defeat Grinnell College, 98-82, snapping Ripon's two-game losing streak.
 
David DeValk led all scorers with 25 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds. Jaylen Mahone had 19 points and 5 rebounds and led Ripon with 3 assists. Jack Brady had 14 points in 15 minutes off the bench, and Ryan Steffes and Luke Meinholz each had 12 points to round out Ripon's double-digit scorers. Steffes filled the stat sheet outside of just scoring as he pulled down 8 rebounds, had 2 assists, and led the team with 4 steals.
 
As is when facing Grinnell, the first half was played at a torrid pace. Grinnell grabbed the early lead, but Ripon never let the lead grow by more than 3 as the teams would go on to trade the lead multiple times over the first 8 minutes. But Ripon would use a small run midway through the half to break open a 7-point lead, 35-28, the largest of the game at that point. The momentum continued, with the Red Hawks leading by 10 later in the half before closing the half up 51-44.
 
It took nearly 4 minutes for a single point in the second half to be scored, but once it did, the scoring came in a flurry. Ripon continued to hold the advantage that they carried over from the first half, but Grinnell came back to take the lead at 60-59 with 12:38 left in the second half. Ripon responded by scoring the next 6 points and quickly making it 65-60. The Red Hawks continued to hold the advantage well into the latter stages of the second half, growing their lead to 14 points with 4 minutes remaining. The game appeared to be well in hand, but Grinnell cut it to 7 points with just over 2 minutes on the clock. Ripon hit their free throws down the stretch to put away the 98-82 victory.
 
Ripon returns to action next Saturday, January 28th when the Red Hawks travel to Iowa to take on Cornell College. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.