GALESBURG, Illinois – The Ripon men's basketball program battled back from a 16-point halftime deficit to trail by just one late in the closing minutes, but fell short 54-49 at Knox on Saturday afternoon inside Memorial Gymnasium.
 
Knox (5-3, 2-1 MWC) shot 44.0% from the field (11-25) in the first half, while Ripon (1-9, 0-3 MWC) shot just 18.8% (6-32) and 0 of 13 from three-point land to give Knox the cushion it needed for the slim conference win.
 
STANDOUT HAWKS

• Junior guard Luke Meinholz scored 14 points, adding 8 rebounds and 5 steals, to score in double-figures for the ninth time this season.
• Sophomore forward Kolby Williams collected his first double-double as a Red Hawk, finishing with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
• Senior guard William Ryan had 9 points and 4 rebounds.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Ripon got on the board nearly two and a half minutes into the game thanks to a bucket by William Ryan and took the lead moments later on a basket by Meinholz. However, that would be the last lead for the Red Hawks in the half. Knox scored the next five points and held a cushion of at least three points for the remainder of the frame. Leading 15-8, the Prairie Fire went on a 7-0 run to lead 22-8. Knox led by double digits for the final 9:01 of the half and took a 31-15 advantage into the locker room.

Ripon roared back in the second half, opening the second stanza on an 18-3 run over the first nine minutes to pull within one at 34-33. Though the Prairie Fire regrouped to surge ahead 42-35, a 6-0 spurt cut Ripon's deficit to just one again with 6:41 left. Ripon battled back from a 49-44 deficit with 4 minutes left and, after a Cunningham triple, trailed 49-47 with 3:08 left. For nearly the next two minutes, neither team scored until the Prairie Fire knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:18 left. Ryan connected on a driving layup to make it a one-score game with 23 seconds left, but Knox salted the game away at the free throw line.

KEY STATS

• Ripon forced 18 turnovers and committed a season-low 8.
• Knox had a slight shooting edge, finishing with a 39.0% clip from the floor (16-41), while Ripon shot 29.9% (20-67).
• Knox shot 42.9% from three (6 of 14), though Ripon made just 5 of 24 three-point attempts (20.8%).
• Ripon held statistical advantages in points off turnovers (20-7), points in the paint (22-10), fastbreak points (12-5), steals (10-2) and second-chance points (11-4).

UP NEXT
Ripon is off for the next seven days before hosting Lakeland on Saturday (December 16) at 3 p.m.
 
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