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Galesburg IL- A tough, hard-fought, gritty contest was played Monday night between the Prairie Fire and the #3 nationally ranked Augustana College at Memorial Gym.
 
Knox (2-6, 1-4 MWC) fell behind early against Augustana (8-1), but the Prairie Fire would not go away in the 55-53 win by the Vikings.
 
Knox was down by as many as 16 in the first half, but cut the deficit to 33-23 at the intermission.
 
The Vikings were able to keep the lead around the 10-point margin for the opening minutes of the second half. Knox chipped away and hung around long enough to have the game go down to the final possession.

A  Joe Kozak (Park Ridge, IL, Maine South) layup in the midst of several Viking defenders fell short in the waning seconds.
 
Augie's Troy Rorer scored a game-high 21 points.
 
Senior Tanner Carlson (Annawan, IL, Annawan) led Knox with 17 points. Kozak finished with 13 and junior Lukas Shaw (Portland, OR, U.S. Grant) chipped in with 12 points and 8 rebounds.
 
Knox closes out the 2011 portion of the season at the 2011 Purple and Gold Tournament at Defiance College in Ohio. 

The Prairie Fire will open with host Defiance on December 29th at 7:00 pm. Depending on what happens, Knox will play either Trine University or Lakeland  College on December 30th. All games can be watched online via webcast from Defiance (http://www.defianceathletics.com/mbasketball/tournament11/).   
 
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