It was all love Tuesday night for the Ripon College men's basketball team as the Red Hawks not only secured a much-needed MWC win over Lake Forest College, but senior guard Jaylen Mahone registered his 1000th career point, becoming the 34th Red Hawk to reach that mark.
 
Mahone had 16 points and tied for a team-high 8 rebounds in the victory. Cade Tackmier led the Red Hawks with 18 points and chipped in 6 rebounds and a team-high 4 assists in the win. Drew Jorgensen had 12 points to round out the double-digit scorers. Ryan Steffes had 9 points and 8 rebounds in a near-double-double effort. Ripon was highly efficient on both ends of the floor tonight, shooting 56 percent from the field and limited Lake Forest to 39 percent shooting.
 
The Red Hawks came out of the gates flying, building an 8-point lead 5 minutes into the game. But a few scoreless minutes allowed Lake Forest to get back into the game and actually put Ripon into their first hole of the night. The lead flipped back to Ripon a few minutes later and the Red Hawks maintained it for the rest of the first half. Ripon pushed their advantage to 7 points on a Mahone layup and would lead 33-29 at the break.
 
That four-point lead nearly became a 10-point lead quickly in the second half and officially reached 10 points on a Tackmier jumper with 11:35 left in the second half. The Red Hawks kept Lake Forest at arm's length for the rest of the second half, with Lake Forest getting as close as 4 points with 6:04 to play before Ripon recovered and regained an 11-point lead just a couple minutes later. The Red Hawks were able to then coast over the final four minutes and post the 72-59 victory.
 
Ripon clinched a spot in the MWC Tournament with tonight's win and has a home date with Knox College on Saturday, February 18th. The game is set to tip at 3:00 p.m.