RIPON, Wisconsin – The Ripon men's basketball program gave #2 UW-Whitewater all it could handle in the first half, but the Warhawks pulled away in the second half to hand the Red Hawks a 77-56 defeat on Saturday afternoon inside Weiske Gymnasium.
 
Whitewater (5-0) shot 53.9% from the field in the second half to pull away from Ripon (1-5), who shot just 30.8% in the final stanza.
 
STANDOUT HAWKS

• Junior guard Luke Meinholz scored in double figures for the sixth game this season. He had a game-high 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting, stuffing the stat sheet with 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and 2 blocks.
• Senior guard Connor Spielvogel chipped in 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals off the bench.
• Senior guard William Ryan tallied 8 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal.
• Senior forward Cameron Ford contributed 7 points and 8 rebounds.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Whitewater scored the first seven points of the game, holding Ripon scoreless for over five and a half minutes until a Meinholz three got the Red Hawks on the board. After UWW took a 19-12 lead, Ripon ripped off a 12-0 run to lead 24-19 with 6:20 remaining in the first half. The Warhawks would answer with a 9-0 spurt of their own to pull ahead once again, 28-24. Whitewater scored the final four points of the half to lead 34-29 after the first 20 minutes.
 
Whitewater kept a steady lead in the second half, never trailing in the final frame. After Ford made a free throw 33 seconds into the second half, Ripon never got closer than four for the remainder of the game. Kolby Williams made a layup to cut Ripon's deficit to nine at 50-41 with 10:21 left, but a 6-0 run gave Whitewater a double-digit lead that it would hold the rest of the afternoon. Ripon was held scoreless for the final 2:17 as Whitewater kept its undefeated season alive.
 
KEY STATS

• Whitewater had a sizeable advantage in field goal percentage, shooting 50.9% while holding Ripon to 32.7% from the field.
• The Warhawks had twice as many points in the paint as Ripon (40-20).
• Each team shot similarly well from behind the arc, as Whitewater went 5 of 14 (35.7%) and Ripon shot 7 of 20 (35.0%).
• Four Warhawks scored in double figures, led by Trevon Chislom and his 20 points and 8 rebounds.

UP NEXT
Ripon goes back on the road for its third consecutive game against a WIAC opponent as the Red Hawks visit UW-Platteville for a 7 p.m. tip inside Williams Fieldhouse on Wednesday (November 29).
 
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