The Ripon College Men's Basketball team could not overcome a cold-shooting afternoon as the Red Hawks dropped a Midwest Conference game against Illinois College by a 66-54 score.
 
The first half was a back-and-forth affair, featuring five lead changes and six ties. Ripon held the early advantage, leading 14-12, with 12:23 left in the first half, but with the Red Hawks' second unit could not hold the lead as Illinois went on a 13-5 run over the next five minutes to make it a 25-19 game with 7 minutes to play. Ripon did recover and regain the lead a few minutes later, but the two teams traded baskets down the stretch and Illinois led 35-32 at the end of the first half.
 
Illinois College scored the first 7 points of the second half and put Ripon in a double-digit hole, trailing 42-32. The Red Hawks twice cut the lead to 5 points, the last of which came with 6 minutes to play, but Illinois College had an answer for those runs and held off Ripon over the final few minutes of the second half to send the Red Hawks to defeat.
 
Just two Ripon players reached double-digits for scoring, Ryan Steffes with 16 points and Dominic Galati with 10 points. Overall, the Red Hawks out-rebounded Illinois College and tallied 7 live ball turnovers, but Ripon shot 33 percent from the floor and 29 percent from three-point range in the loss.
 
Ripon will look to bounce-back on Wednesday, January 11th when the Red Hawks travel to take on Lawrence University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.