VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia – The Ripon men's basketball program opened its 2024-25 campaign on Friday night, falling to Virginia Wesleyan 79-36 inside TowneBank Arena in the opening game of the Marlins' annual TowneBank Tipoff Tournament.
 
A slow first half proved costly for Ripon (0-1) on Friday night – the Red Hawks shot just 16.0% from the field in the opening 20 minutes and made one of their 10 three-point attempts, while Virginia Wesleyan (1-0) shot 41.9% in the same timeframe and ended the opening half on a 28-6 spurt.
 
STANDOUT HAWKS

• Junior guard CJ Brown had a team-high 8 points on 3-of-7 shooting. He also made both of his three-point attempts and chipped in 4 rebounds.
• Senior guard Cade Tackmier finished with 5 points (all from the free-throw line), 2 rebounds and 4 steals.
• Senior guard/forward Luke Meinholz tallied 4 points and 4 rebounds.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
 
Galati hit a triple to put Ripon up 3-2, but Virginia Wesleyan (1-0) answered with the next 11 points to take a double-digit lead as the Red Hawks were held scoreless for over six minutes. After Meinholz ended the drought with a layup, Ripon endured a stretch of over three minutes without another bucket until Brown connected on a layup. Following that score, the Marlins scored the next 11 points to take a 28-7 lead with under a minute left in the half. Jayden Fitch scored with five seconds remaining in the half to halt a nine-plus minute scoring drought, but the Red Hawks trailed by 21 at the break.
 
Meinholz opened the second half with a bucket on Ripon's first possession, but VWU countered with a 12-0 run to push its advantage to 31 at 42-11. Brown hit back-to-back threes moments later to give Ripon a spark, but the Marlins followed with a 17-0 run and Ripon was unable to close the gap to less than 25 the rest of the way.
 
KEY STATS

• Virginia Wesleyan shot 50.8% from the field (31-of-61) while Ripon was limited to 22.8% shooting (13-of-57).
• The Red Hawks turned the ball over 22 times, including 14 occasions in the first half.
• The Marlins had a 42-36 edge on the boards and a 38-24 advantage in bench points.
• Khai Seargeant led VWU with 13 points and 5 rebounds.

UP NEXT
Ripon wraps up its weekend on Saturday (November 9) with a 12 p.m. CT game against either Kean or Mary Washington in the consolation tilt of the Townebank Tipoff Tournament.
 
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