Jaylen Mahone led Ripon with 20 points, but it wasn't enough for the Red Hawks as they could not slow down Cornell College in the second half, dropping a 73-66 road contest.
 
Ryan Steffes had 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, and David DeValk had 10 points to round out Ripon's double-figure scorers. Cade Tackmier led all players with 8 rebounds off the bench, part of Ripon's game-leading 42-31 edge on the boards as well. But the rebound edge was not enough as Cornell College shot 62 percent in the second half, compared to Ripon's 43 percent, to pull out the win.
 
Ripon trailed for the majority of the opening half, going down by as many as 10 points midway through the first half, but they began to string together quality possessions and chip away at their deficit. A three-pointer by Drew Jorgensen with 2:01 left in the half gave the Red Hawks their first lead of the game at 28-27 and Ripon entered the locker rooms with a 32-29 lead.
 
The two teams traded the lead four times in the first few minutes of the second half, before a pair of free throws by Mahone kicked off a quick 7-0 run that put the Red Hawks up 44-38 with 15 minutes to play. Ripon's lead hit 7 points on multiple occasions over the next five minutes, but the Red Hawks could not pull away from Cornell. Ripon led 62-58 with around 5 minutes to play, but Cornell caught fire and turned Ripon's four-point lead into a seven-point deficit in just over two minutes. The Red Hawks trimmed it back to three points with under two minutes to play, but Ripon could not finish the job and fell 73-66.
 
Ripon will look to get back into the win column on Tuesday, January 31st when the Red Hawks travel to take on Beloit College. The game is set to start at 7:30 p.m.