Box Score

Appleton, Wis. – The Prairie Fire had their best shooting game of the season but couldn't slow Lawrence University's effectiveness from 3-point range in an 88-73 Midwest Conference loss on Saturday.

The Vikings drilled 11 3-point baskets in the first half and led Knox by as many as 10 on two occasions, the last time at 33-23 at the 6:28 mark.

The Prairie Fire, trailing 35-27 with 4:49 remaining, went on a 10-3 run – bookended by a pair of treys from senior Eric Miller (Villa Park, IL, Willowbrook) – to trim the deficit to 38-37 with under a minute to go.

Lawrence (7-8, 5-5 MWC) got off the last shot of the opening half, a 3-pointer by Troy Miller that found the bottom of the net, and led Knox 41-37 at halftime.

Both teams shot the lights out over the first 20 minutes.  All but three of the Vikings' baskets in the first half were 3-pointers as they went into the locker room shooting 50 percent.  Knox hit 55.6 percent from the field, including 4-of-8 from long distance, and outrebounded Lawrence 15-9.

The Prairie Fire (1-14, 0-10) began the second half with a basket by first-year Deandre Weathersby (Chicago, IL, Kenwood Academy) to pull within 41-39.  After Lawrence answered with four straight points, Miller hit a jumper to keep Knox close at 47-42 with 16:35 to play.

The Vikings reclaimed a double-figure lead with a 9-0 surge less than two minutes later to go up 56-42.

Lawrence built the lead to 61-43 with 13:29 left in the contest.  The Prairie Fire outscored the Vikings 16-9 over the next eight minutes, capped off by a basket from junior Mitch Murphy (Bushnell, IL, Bushnell-Prairie City), and cut the lead to 70-69.

Lawrence poured in eight unanswered points to stretch the lead to 78-59 with 3:02 remaining.  Knox never threatened the rest of the way.

The Vikings shot 58 percent in the second half and 54 percent overall while finishing 15-of-30 from 3-point range.  Knox knocked down 52 percent from the field after halftime and, like Lawrence, wound up at 54 percent – a new season-high.

The Vikings held a 23-14 edge in points off of turnovers.  Lawrence turned the basketball over 11 times while the Prairie Fire committed 14 miscues.  LU also outscored Knox 15-10 from the foul line while the Prairie Fire outrebounded the Vikings 27-25.

Senior David Jones (Denver, CO, Colorado Academy/Air Force Academy) recorded game highs of 28 points and nine rebounds for the Prairie Fire.  He made 11-of-13 shots and 6-of-8 free throws in his highest scoring output of the season.

Miller drained three 3-pointers and joined Jones in double-figure scoring with 15 points.  Sophomore Charlie Harned (Webster Groves, MO, Clayton) had a nice game off the bench with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Chris Siebert led Lawrence with 22 points, including six buckets from behind the 3-point line.

The Vikings swept the season series against Knox.  Lawrence also defeated the Prairie Fire 92-47 at Memorial Gym on December 14.

Knox plays the second of three straight Midwest Conference road games against Cornell College on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.  The Rams (7-8, 4-6) visited MWC leader St. Norbert College (14-1, 10-0) for a late Saturday afternoon contest.