Box Score

Waukesha, Wis. – Carroll University flirted with 70 percent shooting and defeatd the Prairie Fire 94-58 in Midwest Conference play on Saturday.

A basket inside by senior David Jones (Denver, CO, Colorado Academy/Air Force Academy) gave Knox a 14-13 lead with 13:30 remaining in the first half.  After the teams traded turnovers, the Pioneers scored on a layup about a minute later for a 15-14 advantage and never trailed again.

Carroll (6-5, 3-3 MWC) stretched the lead to 27-20 before junior Mitch Murphy (Bushnell, IL, Bushnell-Prairie City) split a pair of free throws at the 6:54 mark to pull the Prairie Fire within six.

The hot shooting Pioneers put together a 12-0 surge for a 38-20 lead with 3:47 left.  Knox whittled a point off of the deficit and trailed 47-30 at halftime.

Carroll missed just five shots in the first half, connecting on 16-of-21 (76 percent) from the field, and hit 12-of-19 free throw attempts.  The Prairie Fire shot 11-of-26 (42 percent), including six 3-point baskets, but were limited to only three free throws.

The Pioneers opened the second half with a 3-pointer.  Murphy hit a jumper on the next possession to close the gap to 50-32.  That's as close as the Prairie Fire could get as Carroll continued to shoot a high percentage after halftime.

The Pioneers shot 69 percent overall, including 8-of-16 from 3-point range.  Knox (1-10, 0-6 MWC) improved to 50 percent in the second half and finished at 45.5 percent while matching Carroll with eight buckets from behind the 3-point line.

The Pioneers used their strong post game to outscore the Prairie Fire 54-16 in the paint and control the glass with a 34-16 advantage.

Turnovers also proved costly for Knox.  The team's 19 miscues matched a season-high and led to 24 Carroll points.

Murphy led the Prairie Fire in scoring with 14 points.  Jones added 11 points and a team-high five rebounds.  Senior Eric Miller (Villa Park, IL, Willowbrook) also reached double-figures with 10 points.

The Prairie Fire visit high-scoring Grinnell College on January 8 at 5:30 p.m.  The Pioneers (7-2, 3-2 MWC) suffered a 126-99 MWC loss at Ripon College on Saturday.

Follow Prairie Fire athletics on Twitter and Facebook