Box Score

Galesburg, IL - The Prairie Fire held Carroll University’s potent offense in check, but couldn’t find enough offense of its own in a 68-61 loss on Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium.

The Pioneers (2-2, 1-1 MWC) entered the game as the top shooting team in the Midwest Conference at better than 50 percent and ranked third in scoring. 

Knox (0-3, 0-2 MWC) held Carroll to 37 percent shooting, but the Pioneer defense was also good – holding the Fire to 36.5 percent from the floor in the first of two meetings between the teams this season.

The Prairie Fire got off to a good start by taking a 9-4 lead on a basket by senior Joe Kozak (Park Ridge, IL, Maine South) with 13:48 to play in the first half.  The Pioneers followed with an 11-4 run for a 15-13 advantage at the 10:12 mark.

Carroll took a 29-28 lead into the halftime locker room after making 11-of-28 shots (39 percent).  Knox also forced the Pioneers into 11 first half turnovers.  The Prairie Fire made 10-of-27 first half shots (37 percent).

Senior Tanner Carlson (Annawan, IL, Annawan) split a pair of free throws to open the second half and tie the score at 29-29.  The game remained close five minutes into the half with Carroll leading 42-39 when the Pioneers scored eight of the next 10 points to grab their biggest lead of the game at 50-41 with 9:29 to go.

Knox closed the gap to 57-53 with 2:15 left in the game on a bucket by sophomore David Jones (Denver, CO, Colorado Academy), part of a 5-0 run by the Prairie Fire.

The Pioneers’ Kevin Hurd buried a 3-point basket at the 1:40 mark to steal the momentum from the Prairie Fire and put Carroll on top 60-53.  Knox cut the Pioneer lead to five on three occasions, but couldn’t get any closer.

The Pioneers snapped a two-game slide with the victory.

Kozak had a big game for the Fire with 19 points and nine rebounds.  Junior Lukas Shaw (Portland, OR, U.S. Grant) also scored in double-figures with 15 and junior Ian Horvath (Addison, IL, Addison Trail) had 12.

Hurd led all scorers with 23 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range.  He also was 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 23 seconds.

Knox resumes play Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. against unbeaten Grinnell College (6-0, 2-0 MWC).  The Pioneers were picked to win the league title in the 2011-12 MWC Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

Grinnell beat back-to-back defending conference champion St. Norbert College 108-98 on Friday night and handed Ripon College its first loss of the season, 125-103, on Saturday.  Both games were at Grinnell’s Darby Gym. 

The Pioneer offense is firing on all cylinders with the team averaging 128 points a game. 

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