RIPON. Wisconsin—The Prairie Fire men's basketball team fell to Ripon 79-65 in their final game of the season.

Knox (7-18, 5-13 MWC) led the Red Hawks 32-29 at halftime, but foul trouble in the second half led to 17 free throws for Ripon.

Knox stormed out to a 6-0 lead in the first half and led until the Red Hawks tied it up at 10-apiece with 14:19 left in the half. The Prairie Fire jumped back out to a 23-14 lead at the 8:33 mark and led for the remainder of the half.

Knox struck first again in the second half and took a 40-32 lead with 16:22 left in game. Ripon scored the next eight points to tie the game up and soon took a 47-41 lead. With 8:28 remaining, the Red Hawks took a double-digit lead and never looked back.

Jonathan Damota led the Prairie Fire with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Marko Protic, Ikenna Ozor, and Bryce Wilkinson each added 11 points. Protic grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

The men's basketball team finished with their most total wins and most conference wins since the 2007-08 season.