Galesburg, IL – The Prairie Fire couldn’t match the offensive firepower of Grinnell College as the Pioneers won their Midwest Conference opener 113-76 on Wednesday.

A big crowd filled Memorial Gymnasium, many in attendance to watch Grinnell sophomore Jack Taylor play.  Taylor has drawn massive attention after he broke the NCAA single game scoring record with 138 points earlier this month against Faith Baptist Bible College.  He also set four other national records in the game.

Taylor played 14 minutes in Grinnell’s system offense and led his team with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting against Knox (0-3, 0-2 MWC).

The Prairie Fire got off to a good start with senior Lukas Shaw (Portland, OR, U.S. Grant) scoring the first four points on a basket and two free throws.  The Pioneers (4-1, 1-0 MWC) scored 18 of the next 22 points to take a double-figure lead at 18-8 with 13:20 in the first half.

Knox fought back and closed the deficit to six on two occasions, the latest at 27-21 at the 8:19 mark.  The Pioneers got in an offensive groove and closed out the first half on a 25-7 run to lead 52-28 at the intermission.

Grinnell shot 46 percent in the opening stanza.  Nine of the team’s 21 field goals were from 3-point range.  The Prairie Fire countered with 55 percent shooting on 11-of-20 and made 6-of-10 free throws.

The Pioneers put the game out of reach with a 9-0 run 2:13 into the second half to extend the lead to 61-28.  Grinnell outscored Knox 61-48 over the final 20 minutes.

The Pioneers finished with 19 baskets from 3-point range and shot 42 percent overall while sinking 16-of-21 foul shots.

The Prairie Fire shot 56 percent in the contest and made 16-of-23 attempts from the free throw line.  Grinnell forced 33 Knox turnovers and grabbed 22 offensive rebounds.

First-year Javaka Thompson (Chicago, IL, Whitney Young) scored a career-high 24 points for the Prairie Fire.  Shaw followed with 15 points and eight rebounds and sophomore Mitch Murphy (Bushnell, IL, Bushnell-Prairie City/Avon) added 10 points and six boards.

Knox plays its first game away from home on Saturday against Lawrence University at 1:00 pm.  Live Web streaming will be available at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/midwest.portal#

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