Box Score
Knox Sports Information and Nate Beebe

GALESBURG, Illinois – The Prairie Fire closed out the first half with a huge run and went on to defeat Cornell College 73-60 in Midwest Conference play at Memorial Gym on Wednesday night.

Knox (4-7, 2-4 MWC) won for the third time in the last four games and snapped a three-game slide against the Rams, who dropped their ninth in a row.

The Prairie Fire built a six point advantage in the first eight minutes of the game before Cornell snatched the lead away for a brief time.

Two straight baskets by first-year Caylab Herrera (Middletown, DE, Middletown) turned a two point Knox edge to 11-5.  After a score by Cornell (2-10, 1-6 MWC), first-year DJ Lewis (Chino Hills, CA, Chino Hills) stuck a jumper that pushed the lead back up to a half-dozen with 12:02 to go in the half.  The Rams grabbed the momentum, and the lead, with an 11-0 surge that catapulted them ahead 18-13 with 9:23 remaining.

The hosts owned the rest of the half.

Knox trailed for less than one minute as sophomore Liam Nash (Nashville, TN, University School of Nashville) drained a 3-pointer and fellow sophomore Robert Suntken (Naperville, IL, Naperville Central) did the same on the next possession.  Leading 19-18, senior Mitch Murphy (Bushnell, IL, Bushnell-Prairie City) continued the run by netting a 3-point shot and a pair of free throws.

And there was more.

A basket by Herrera and another by Suntken made it a 28-18 Prairie Fire lead with four minutes left.  Cornell snapped the run of unanswered points by Knox at 15 with a free throw.  Nash knocked down another long-range jumper to close out the first half scoring with the Prairie Fire on a roll and on top of the Rams 31-19 following an 18-1 run.

Cornell shot 27 percent in the opening half while Knox made 5-of-10 attempts from 3-point distance and hit on 44 percent from the field.

The Rams sliced the deficit to nine, 37-28, about five minutes into the second half.   The Prairie Fire worked the lead back to double-digits.  Cornell's biggest deficit was 56-37 with 10:27 to play and it didn't get any closer than 10 points the rest of the night.

Knox coach Kevin Walden tied the big first half run his team went on to being aggressive.

"We were playing solid defense but we weren't being aggressive.  In the last ten minutes we were aggressive.  We denied passing lanes, we created turnovers that resulted in layups for us."

Walden said offensively, the team is at its best when players are sharing the basketball.

"We get the ball moving and get contributions from multiple people.  And when we subbed some guys in, that's exactly what we got.  The ball moving and some guys stepped up and hit shots."

The Prairie Fire had a solid shooting effort, connecting on 52 percent in the second half and 48 percent overall.  Knox was 8-of-15 from 3-point distance and 15-of-23 from the foul line.

Cornell shot 38 percent for the game, including 1-of-11 from behind the 3-point line, and hit 19-of-30 free throws.

Suntken was one of three Knox players to score in double-figures with a team-high 19 points.  Herrera had a season-high 17 points to go with seven rebounds and Murphy scored 11 points.  Sophomore Mike Martin (Metamora, IL, Metamora) led all players with eight rebounds.

Corey Davis scored a game-high 30 points for Cornell.

The Prairie Fire visit Beloit College next.  The teams play Saturday at 5:00 p.m.