RIPON, Wisconsin – Luke Meinholz of the Ripon men's basketball program set a new school record for single-season steals and the Red Hawks secured their spot in next week's Midwest Conference Tournament after defeating Lake Forest 72-58 on Wednesday night inside Weiske Gymnasium.
 
Meinholz needed four steals to set the new program mark and achieved the feat with a dunk in the second half. His 68th steal eclipsed the previous mark of 67 set by Tom Becker during the 2004-05 season.
 
Ripon (10-14, 8-7 MWC) trailed by two after a poor-shooting first half but turned the tables on Lake Forest (8-16, 6-9 MWC) in the second period, outscoring the Foresters 47-31 while shooting a scintillating 62.1% from the floor.
 
By virtue of Ripon's win, Monmouth's loss at Cornell, Beloit's home win over Grinnell and Illinois College's road win at Knox, the Red Hawks have earned the opportunity to play Illinois College in next week's MWC Tournament hosted by the Blueboys in Jacksonville, Illinois as the fourth seed.
 
STANDOUT HAWKS

• Sophomore forward Kolby Williams scored a team-high 16 points, adding 7 rebounds and 2 assists.
• Junior guard Luke Meinholz chipped in 13 points, 5 steals, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
• Senior guard Cade Tackmier equaled Meinholz with 13 points, sinking a trio of three-pointers to go along with 4 assists and 3 boards.
• Senior guard William Ryan came off the bench to score 10 points with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Offense was slow going in the early minutes as it took Ripon six and a half minutes to reach double digits. The first half was tight throughout; neither team led by more than seven. Lake Forest led for the final 13 minutes of the half which started with a 7-0 run midway through the frame. The Foresters equaled that lead moments later, but Ripon chipped away at its deficit and was within three at 23-20 following baskets by Ryan and Meinholz. The Red Hawks scored five of the last six points in the half and trailed by just two at the break following a layup by Clark Cunningham.
 
It took Ripon just a few moments to assert itself in the second half. After LFC took a 31-27 lead, Ripon ripped off an 11-0 run punctuated by a Tackmier triple to take the lead back for good. Once the Foresters stopped the skid, the Red Hawks took off with 15 consecutive points to build their lead to 20 at 53-33. The 26-2 run put the game out of reach as Lake Forest never came closer than 12 the rest of the way. Meinholz's breakaway dunk with 8:26 left in the game gave the Red Hawks their biggest lead of the night (60-39) and Ripon never looked back en route to its fourth-consecutive victory.
 
KEY STATS

• Ripon shot 47.5% from the floor (28-of-59), limiting Lake Forest to 20-of-55 shooting for 36.4%.
• Ripon had a season-high 15 steals while turning LFC over 18 times.
• The Red Hawks held advantages over the Foresters in points off turnovers (24-16), points in the paint (34-22), second-chance points (18-8), fast-break points (13-6) and bench points (20-7).
• Alex Knight led Lake Forest with 21 points.

UP NEXT
Ripon's regular-season finale is Saturday (February 17) at Lawrence. Tipoff from Alexander Gymnasium is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
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