WHITEWATER, Wisconsin – The Ripon men's basketball program nearly overcame a 20-point deficit on Tuesday afternoon, but the Red Hawks ended non-conference play with an 81-70 defeat to UW-Whitewater inside Kachel Gymnasium.
 
Four Red Hawks scored in double figures for Ripon (4-7), who trailed by as little as three in the second half following a 20-point first half deficit which saw UW-Whitewater (6-5) shoot 51.9% from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
 
STANDOUT HAWKS

• Senior guard/forward Luke Meinholz led Ripon with 18 points, four rebounds and four assists. He was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
• Junior forward Kolby Williams scored 15 points, adding four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
• Senior guard Cade Tackmier added 12 points, six rebounds and three assists.
• Freshman forward Michael Asman contributed 10 points and six rebounds.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
It was a defensive battle in the opening minutes, as Ripon scored the first five points of the game while keeping Whitewater off the scoreboard for over two minutes. The Warhawks woke up with five straight points to grab their first lead at 8-7, and a 12-0 run for UWW then gave the hosts their biggest lead of the half thus far (20-9). Moments later, the Warhawks went on a 6-0 spurt, pushing their advantage to 15 halfway through the stanza. In a first half that saw Whitewater make seven three-pointers, the Warhawks led by as many as 20 and took a 38-24 lead into halftime.
 
From the final 2:46 of the first half into the second half, the Red Hawks went on an 8-0 spurt to cut their deficit to 12. Five consecutive points for Ripon made it a nine-point game at 42-33, and the Red Hawks closed to within 47-43 after triples by Sam Leoni and Asman. Whitewater's lead was just three (48-45) following an Asman layup, but the hosts rattled off eight straight points to open up an 11-point advantage. UWW's edge grew to 16 in the ensuing moments, and the hosts led 68-52 at the under-eight media timeout. Ripon went on a 7-0 run in the late stages of the period, but the closest Ripon got in the final six minutes was six as UWW held off the Red Hawks for the non-conference win.
 
KEY STATS

• Ripon shot a respectable 45.2% from the field (28-of-62) but UWW was a touch better at 51.8% (29-of-56).
• Whitewater was 15-of-21 from the free throw line, limiting Ripon to just 12 attempts from the charity stripe.
• UWW had a slight 35-30 edge in rebounds.
• Each team had 12 turnovers.
• Luke Bara led all scorers with 27 points for the Warhawks.

UP NEXT
Ripon returns to Midwest Conference play on Saturday, January 4 as the Red Hawks host Beloit at 3 p.m.
 
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