Box Score
RIPON, Wisconsin – The Prairie Fire fell behind early and couldn't get any closer than three points in an 83-64 Midwest Conference loss at Ripon College on Saturday.

Knox (3-7, 1-4 MWC) saw its two game winning streak snapped while the Red Hawks posted their 10th straight victory against the Prairie Fire.

Knox led once in the game on a 3-point basket by sophomore Robert Suntken (Naperville, IL, Naperville Central) to open the scoring.  Ripon (8-3, 5-1 MWC) countered with a 9-0 run that sophomore Deandre Weathersby (Chicago, IL, Kenwood Academy) snapped with a jumper about three minutes into the contest.

The Red Hawks (8-3, 5-1 MWC), the MWC coaches' choice to tie for first this season with St. Norbert College, scored eight of the next 10 points to grab their first double-digit lead of the game, 17-7, at the 14:14 mark.

The Prairie Fire came right back with seven unanswered points to slice the deficit to 17-14 less than two minutes later.

Knox continued to stay within three points at 28-25 on a basket by first-year Orlando Brown (Chicago, IL, Hinsdale South) with 7:21 remaining when Ripon began to pull away.  The Red Hawks built their biggest lead of the half, 43-32, before Brown scored again for the Prairie Fire to make it a nine point Ripon lead at the break.

Both teams blistered the nets in the first half.  Ripon shot 65 percent (17-of-26) while Knox connected on nearly 56 percent (15-of-27).  The Red Hawks outscored the Prairie Fire 6-0 from the free throw line.

Knox drew within six on a 3-point play by first-year Caylab Herrera (Middletown, DE, Middletown) to begin the second half, but Ripon used a 21-5 surge to go up by 22 points (64-42) with 11:23 to play.

The Red Hawks maintained a lead of at least 20 until Prairie Fire sophomore Danny Mateling (Grayslake, IL, Grayslake North) sank a pair of free throws to close out the game's scoring with 44 seconds left.

Knox cooled off to 43 percent shooting in the second half and finished at 49 percent (27-of-55).  Ripon hit on 44 percent of its shots after halftime and wound up at 55 percent (29-of-53) overall.  The Red Hawks also drained 19-of-26 free throws while the Prairie Fire went 3-for-7 at the stripe.

Ripon sits alone in second place in the Midwest Conference standings after posting its fifth win in the last six games.

Suntken led the Prairie Fire with 14 points.  Brown also reached double-figures with 10.  Ty Sabin scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Red Hawks.

Knox returns to Memorial Gym for a Midwest Conference tilt against Cornell College (2-9, 1-5 MWC) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.  The Rams have dropped their last eight games.