Box Score

Galesburg, Ill. – The Prairie Fire went toe-to-toe with Cornell College for the first 25 minutes of their Midwest Conference game on Wednesday night at Memorial Gym.  The Rams, however, took over in the final 15 minutes and defeated Knox 84-66.

The Prairie Fire led 9-8 on a jumper by senior David Jones (Denver, CO, Colorado Academy/Air Force Academy) 6:30 into the contest when the Rams went on a 19-12 run to take their biggest lead of the half at 27-21 at the 5:43 mark.

Knox responded with an 11-4 surge, capped off by a 3-pointer from first-year Marcellis Davis (Chicago, IL, Curie), to regain the lead at 32-31 with 2:43 remaining.  Cornell scored three straight points before Davis added the final basket of the half to force a 34-34 tie at the break.

The Prairie Fire (1-4, 0-1 MWC) shot 47 percent and connected on five 3-point baskets in the first half.  The Rams hit 40.5 percent of their shots, including just 1-of-8 attempts from long range.

The teams went back-and-forth during the first 4:30 of the second half, tying the game for the eighth time at 44-44.

Cornell scored the next six points in a three minute stretch and never relinquished the lead.  Two free throws by junior Mitch Murphy (Bushnell, IL, Bushnell-Prairie City) trimmed the deficit to 50-46 with 12:00 to go.

The Rams (3-1, 1-0 MWC) scored 28 of the next 39 points and built their biggest lead at 78-57 with just under 3:00 left in the game, sealing a win in their conference opener.

Cornell improved to 61 percent shooting in the second half and finished at 49 percent.

Knox was a chilly 32 percent from the floor after halftime and wound up shooting 39 percent overall.  The Prairie Fire had some success shooting from 3-point distance, draining 11-of-27 (41 percent).

Davis led the Prairie Fire with 13 points and seven rebounds.  Senior Eric Miller (Villa Park, IL, Willowbrook) added 10 points and five assists while Jones contributed nine points and seven rebounds.

Photos of the game are available here

Knox travels to Lake Forest College for another Midwest Conference game on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.  The game will be streamed live online at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/lfc.portal#

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