GALESBURG, Illinois—The Prairie Fire men's basketball team saw their comeback fall short, falling to Iowa Wesleyan 98-89 on Tuesday night.

Knox (1-7) fell behind early when the Tigers jumped out to a 24-9 lead. By halftime, the Prairie Fire trailed 51-32. Knox trailed IW 82-60 with 7:40 remaining, but the Prairie Fire used a 21-5 run to pull to within six points in the closing minutes of the game. The rally fell short despite outscoring the Tigers 57-47 in the second half.

Robert Suntken led Knox with 20 points and Marko Protic added 17 of his own on 6-of-8 from the floor and 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. First-year Jacob Kampf had the best game of his young career with 11 points and 10 assists to earn his first career double-double. He was 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Knox returns to action when they host IIT on December 28 at 7:00 p.m.