GALESBURG, Illinois—The Prairie Fire men's basketball team lost their Midwest Conference opener to St. Norbert 76-37 on Friday night.

Knox (0-4, 0-1 MWC) drew a tough opponent in their first go around in conference as St. Norbert is nationally ranked.  The Prairie Fire held an early 6-4 lead and trailed 11-10 at the 11:42 mark in the first half. The Green Knights used an 11-0 run to take a double-digit lead over the next six minutes. Knox drew to within nine with 4:10 left in the half, but St. Norbert finished the half on an 11-5 run to lead 36-21 at halftime. The Green Knights came out gunning in the second half and expanded their lead quickly, outscoring the Prairie Fire 40-16 en route to the victory.

Robert Suntken (Naperville, IL, Naperville Central) led Knox with seven points and Deandre Weathersby (Chicago, IL, Kenwood Academy) chipped in six. Eric Thompson (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) and Marko Protic (Niles, IL, Maine East) shared the team lead with five rebounds and George Mosialos (Larissa, Greece, Mpakogiannis) added a team-high four assists.

The Prairie Fire host Lawrence on December 3 to continue their conference home stand.