Box Score

Jacksonville, IL – The Prairie Fire were unable to recover from a big first half deficit against Bluffton University and lost their season-opener 86-65 on Friday in the Bill Merris Tournament at Illinois College.

Bluffton, a member of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, shot a blistering 65.5 percent (19-of-29) and built a 47-27 lead at halftime.

Junior Mitch Murphy (Bushnell, IL, Bushnell-Prairie City) made a pair of free throws to give Knox (0-1) a 4-3 lead one minute into the contest.  The Beavers responded with a basket on the next possession and never trailed again.

Bluffton (1-0) extended to a 23-13 lead with 11:29 in the first half following a 7-0 run.  A bucket by Prairie Fire senior David Jones (Denver, CO, Colorado Academy/Air Force Academy) briefly trimmed the deficit under double-digits at 23-15 with just over 11:00 to play in the first stanza.

The Beavers answered with a 24-12 run to close out the half.

Knox connected on 35 percent (9-of-26) from the floor over the first 20:00 of the contest.

The Prairie Fire fought back and cut the Bluffton lead to 51-39 on a basket by senior Mackinzie Chapman (Sheffield, IL, Annawan) at the 14:40 mark.

Bluffton outscored Knox 13-5 over the next five minutes to build the lead back to 20 at 64-44.

The Prairie Fire improved to 50 percent (15-of-30) shooting in the second half and finished the game at 43 percent (24-of-56).  The Beavers followed up a red hot first half with a 52 percent (16-of-31) effort and wound up shooting 58 percent (35-of-60) overall.

Bluffton also outrebounded Knox 35-25.

Jones led three Prairie Fire players in double-figure scoring with 15 points.  First-year Marcellis Davis (Chicago, IL, Curie) scored 12 points off the bench and senior Eric Miller (Villa Park, IL, Willowbrook) added 10.  Chapman was the leading rebounder for Knox with 5.

The Prairie Fire meet Principia College in the two-day tournament tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.

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