The Ripon College men's basketball team used a 9-0 run midway through the second half to turn a one-point lead to a 10-point lead and post a 95-84 victory at Grinnell College Tuesday afternoon.
 
Jaylen Mahone led all scorers with 24 points, his second 24-point outing in his last three games. Mahone was one of four Ripon players to reach double-figures as he was followed by Drew Jorgensen, who had 16 points off the bench, Ryan Steffes, who had 12 points, and Dominic Galati, who had 10 points. David DeValk played just 18 minutes in the contest, but added 9 points and 9 rebounds, nearly completing the double double.
 
Ripon got off to a great start in the first half, leading by 7, 12-5, through the game's first 4 minutes. That lead would balloon to 17 points, with Ripon on top 37-20, before Grinnell would begin their charge to close the half. Grinnell caught fire from three-point range and hit shots from downtown on three-straight possessions, part of a 12-0 run to cut Ripon's lead to just 5 with 2 minutes left in the opening half. Ripon ended the run and stabilized the momentum for a moment, but another pair of three-pointers in the final minute-plus had the game tied at 41-41 going into the half.
 
Grinnell's hot shooting from beyond the arc continued to open the second half, but Ripon countered every shot and never let their opponent's lead get greater than 3 points. Then, with the score at 50-49 in favor of Grinnell, Owen Theune hit a three-pointer of his own to put Ripon on top for good. That three-pointer was part of an 8-0 run by the Red Hawks that flipped the game in favor of Ripon. Over the next few minutes, Ripon pushed their lead comfortably into double-digits and led by 18 points with 4:13 to play before coasting to the 95-84 victory.
 
Ripon hosts their first game of 2023 on Saturday, January 7th when Illinois College comes to town. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.