Galesburg, IL – The Prairie Fire pulled ahead of Beloit College in the second half after trailing much of the game but couldn’t hang on in a 74-69 Midwest Conference loss at home on Saturday.

The Buccaneers (4-3, 3-1 MWC) raced out to a 10-2 lead in the first 4:30 the game.  Knox answered with a 14-5 run to trim the Buccaneers’ lead down to 16-15 with 8:50 in the first half.

Beloit came right back by scoring 10 of the next 15 points to extend the advantage to 26-20 with 5:20 before the break.

The Prairie Fire (1-5, 1-4 MWC) again whittled away at the deficit and cut it to one at 29-28 on a basket by sophomore Mitch Murphy (Bushnell, IL, Bushnell-Prairie City/Avon) at the 2:57 mark.  Beloit closed the half on an 11-6 run, including three baskets by junior James Lazarcik, for a 40-34 halftime lead.

Lazarcik, who leads the Midwest Conference in field goal percentage (.731) and rebounding (11.6) and is third in scoring (18.4), had a huge first half for the Buccaneers.  He nearly had a double-double at halftime: 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting and eight rebounds.

The Bucs shot 57% in the opening half and connected on 5-of-7 free throws.  Knox hit 41% of its shots in the first half, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range, and made 7-of-11 free throw attempts.

The Prairie Fire scored the first five points of the second half on a 3-point play by junior Eric Miller (Villa Park, IL, Willowbrook) and a basket by fellow junior David Jones (Denver, CO, Colorado Academy) to trail by just a point at 40-39.  Beloit followed with a 3-point field goal by David Bremner to push the lead back to four before Murphy sank another jumper to trim the Buccaneer lead to 43-41 at the 18:25 mark.

Beloit got its offense in gear and outscored Knox 8-2 over the next 2:20 for its biggest lead of the game at 51-43.

The Prairie Fire, after switching from a man-to-man defense to a 2-3 zone, was able to force some empty possessions by the Bucs and score on the offensive end.  Knox, thanks to a 12-2 run, took its first lead of the game at 55-53 when Murphy drained a long 3-pointer with a little over 10:00 to play.

Murphy continued the run with four more unanswered points, bumping it up to a 16-2 offensive spurt, and the Prairie Fire held its biggest lead at 59-53 with 9:10 in regulation.

After Beloit responded with a 7-0 run to briefly get the lead back at 60-59 with 7:23 remaining, Knox scored five consecutive points on a lay-up by sophomore Armand Stricklin (Lee Summit, MO, Lee Summit West) and a trey by Murphy to go up by four, 64-60, with 4:10 to play. 

The Buccaneers cut the Prairie Fire lead to 64-63 on a 3-pointer by Steve McAfee at the 3:53 mark.

The teams went over a minute without scoring before Jones split a pair of free throws that gave the Prairie Fire a 65-63 lead with 2:42 left in the contest.

Lazarcik tied the game at 65-65 with a jumper at 2:30, and following a missed shot on the next Knox possession, Tyler Butke drained a jump shot that gave Beloit the lead for good, 67-65, with 1:55 to go.

Murphy was fouled on the following Knox possession and went to the line for two shots and a chance to tie with 1:35 left in the game.  A 91 percent free throw shooter, Murphy made the first foul shot and 21st straight dating back to December 1 at Lawrence University, but missed the second.

Leading 67-66, the Prairie Fire fouled Bremner with 1:02 remaining and he made both of his free throws for a 69-66 Beloit advantage. 

Knox turned the basketball over on the next two possessions and the Bucs converted three of the next four free throws attempted for a six point lead that the Prairie Fire would not be able to match.

Knox shot 52% in the second half and finished the game at 46%.  The Prairie Fire shot exceptional from 3-point range by sinking 9-of-17 (53%) and made 12-of-18 (67%) free throws.

Beloit cooled off a bit to 46% shooting in the second half and wound up at 52% overall.  The Bucs made 3-of-6 attempts from behind the 3-point line and sank 15-of-22 free throws (68%).

Beloit used its size to more than hold its own on the glass.  The Buccaneers outrebounded Knox 40-20 and allowed just three offensive boards.

Knox, as a whole, took good care of the basketball, committing only nine turnovers to 15 for Beloit.

The Prairie Fire held Lazarcik to two field goals and seven points in the second half.  He still finished the game with a double-double: 30 points and 14 rebounds.  Butke added 14 points for the Bucs, who won their third straight game.

Murphy scored a team-high 20 points for Knox.  Stricklin drilled 5-of-7 shots from 3-point range and had a career-high 19 points before fouling out.

The Prairie Fire steps out of conference on Tuesday night with a game at Augustana College.  The Vikings (6-1) dropped their first game of the season 67-59 at #7 Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Saturday. 

The game between Knox and Augie is at 7:30 p.m. at Augustana’s Carver Center.

The Fire resumes Midwest Conference play on December 16 at Monmouth College at 5:00 p.m.  The Fighting Scots (1-5, 1-3 MWC) lost 71-63 at home against Carroll University (6-1, 3-0 MWC) on Saturday.

The game between Knox and Monmouth will be streamed live on the Web at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/monmouth.portal#

Follow Prairie Fire athletics on Twitter