The Ripon College men's basketball team led comfortably for most of the second half, but a last-second block of a Beloit College layup by Red Hawks standout Jaylen Mahone stopped the Beloit comeback and secured the 60-59 road victory for Ripon.
 
Ripon and Beloit traded punches in the early going of the first half with the Red Hawks leading by 7, at 10-3, before Beloit stormed back to take the 13-12 lead just minutes later. The game saw both ties and lead changes until Ripon put together a quick 8-0 run over a three-minute span midway through the first half and took a 26-18 lead. The Red Hawks capitalized on that momentum and pushed their lead to 13 points before going into the locker rooms with a 34-24 advantage.
 
Ripon never fully pulled away from Beloit in the second half, but they were still sitting in a great position to snag a road conference victory, leading by multiple possessions until the latter stages of the game. In fact, the first time Beloit College trailed by less than 5 points came with 1:42 left to play when a pair of free throws made it a 58-55 game. The turnover bug nearly caught Ripon and led to another late-game defeat, but a big bucket by Ryan Steffes with 49 seconds to play pushed Ripon's lead back to 3. Those points proved vital as Beloit scored on its next possession yet still trailed by 1 point. Ripon had a chance to put the game away but turned the ball over with 12 seconds left. The Red Hawks successfully defended the final possession, with Mahone's block being the proverbial nail in the coffin as Ripon escaped with the 60-59 victory.
 
Ryan Steffes had a team-high 15 points and added 8 rebounds for Ripon. Cade Tackmier earned his first start of the season and contributed 14 points and 8 rebounds, while Jaylen Mahone, aside from the game-sealing block, chipped in with 12 points and game-highs of 9 rebounds and 4 assists on the night.
 
Ripon welcomes Lawrence University on Saturday, February 4th for a Midwest Conference game. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.