Box score
Appleton, WI - Only a victory could have made it a better night for Prairie Fire junior guard Tanner Carlson.
The Annawan, Illinois native did everything he could to try to stave off a gut wrenching, 89-86 double overtime loss at Lawrence University Friday night. Carlson had the first triple-double by a Knox men's basketball player in recent memory against the Vikings, who escaped with the win to sweep the season series with the Prairie Fire.
Carlson scored 11 points, which included a 3-point basket with 11 seconds remaining in regulation that tied the game at 74-74 and sent it into the first OT. He also pulled down 11 rebounds and dished out 14 assists.
The teams finished a low scoring first half deadlocked at 26-26. Both squads struggled with their shooting -- the Prairie Fire hit on just 29 percent from the floor and Lawrence shot 34 percent. The cold shooting included a combined 4-of-19 from 3-point range.
The second half was a different story.
The Vikings (8-7, 7-3 MWC) missed only 11 shots over the final 20 minutes of regulation (19-of-30) and canned 7-of-11 from 3-point range. The Prairie Fire answered a slow start with 53 percent shooting, including a 5-of-8 effort from long distance.
The difference was in overtime, when Lawrence made 6-of-13 shots (46 percent) to 38.5 percent (5-of-13) for Knox. The game was notched at 82-82 after the first OT. The Vikings outscored the Fire 7-4 to keep their hold on second place in the Midwest Conference and improve to 5-1 at Alexander Gymnasium.
Tyler Crisman was a major thorn in Knox's side. He made seven of his team's nine 3-point baskets en route to a game-high 25 points. The Vikings, minus the shooting of Crisman, were 2-of-13 from long range. LU's Erik Borresen had a big night in the post with 24 points, 15 rebounds, and four blocked shots.
Along with the triple-double from Carlson, first-year forward David Jones (Denver, CO, Colorado Academy) recorded a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Ben Wetherbee (Sydney, Australia, Woodstock) added 19 points, and junior forward Joe Kozak (Park Ridge, IL, Maine South) had 15.
The 14 assists by Carlson is one short of the school record set by Tim Irby during 2000-01 season against Grinnell College, Kyle Zimdar during the 1996-97 season against Coe College, and Steve Dimovski in the 1987-88 season against Illinois College. Carlson matched Dave Wotring's14 assists for Knox, which he had against Cornell College during the 1964-65 season.
