GALESBURG, Illinois – The Ripon men's basketball program gave up a season-low 19 points in the first half on Saturday afternoon, opening up a 16-point halftime lead and never looking back en route to a 78-55 victory at Knox inside Memorial Gymnasium.
 
Four Red Hawks scored in double figures to lead a balanced Ripon (10-11, 7-5 MWC) attack. The Red Hawks have now won six of their last eight games, continuing to stay in the Midwest Conference Tournament hunt with four contests remaining.
 
STANDOUT HAWKS

• Junior forward Kolby Williams scored a game-high 15 points, adding nine rebounds and three blocks.
• Senior guard/forward Luke Meinholz contributed 13 points, three rebounds and four assists.
• Senior guard Cade Tackmier added 13 points, four rebounds, five assists, three steals and three made three-pointers.
• Senior guard Ben Porath scored a career-high 11 points, going 4-of-5 from the field (3-of-4 from deep) in just five minutes.
• Senior guard Dominic Galati chipped in nine points with three made triples, also recording two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Ripon started fast once again on Saturday, scoring the first six points of the game while keeping Knox (4-17, 1-11 MWC) off the board for three and a half minutes. Five consecutive points for the Red Hawks put the visitors in front 15-4 as Knox committed six turnovers in the first eight minutes of play. Ripon's lead grew to 14 on a Galati three at the 8:31 mark as it took the Prairie Fire over 12 minutes to break into double digits. An 8-0 Knox run got the hosts within 23-17, but the Red Hawks ended the half on an 8-0 spurt of their own to take a 35-19 lead into intermission.
 
Knox rallied at the onset of the second half, scoring the first five points to trim into its deficit. However, an 11-point deficit turned into 20 (48-28) after back-to-back triples by Galati and Tackmier. A 10-4 Knox spurt trimmed Ripon's lead to 56-42, though five consecutive points by Meinholz pushed the advantage back up to 19. The Red Hawks led by at least 17 the rest of the way – Knox posed no threat over the final 10 minutes and Ripon wrapped up the 23-point victory.
 
KEY STATS

• Ripon shot an efficient 44.4% from the floor (28-of-63) while holding Knox to 19-of-50 shooting from the field (38.0%).
• The Red Hawks tied a season-high with 12 made three-pointers, while Knox was just 4-of-21 from downtown.
• Ripon converted 12 second-chance points and 30 points in the paint.
• The Red Hawks forced 19 Knox turnovers, committing only 11 themselves.
• Willie Rogers III led Knox with 11 points.

UP NEXT
Ripon ends the regular season with three of its final four games at home, starting with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff against Cornell on Tuesday (February 11) inside Weiske Gymnasium.
 
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