GALESBURG, Illinois—The Prairie Fire men's basketball team won their third game in their last four by defeating Cornell 64-50 on Saturday afternoon.

Knox (6-15, 4-10 MWC) fell behind the Rams in the early going, but five quick points from Marko Protic gave the Prairie Fire the lead three minutes into the game and they quickly built up a 13-4 lead. The Rams battled back to close the gap to four, but Knox used a 7-3 run to close out the half with a 29-21 lead. Cornell struck first again in the second half, but the Prairie Fire rallied to extend their lead to double digits just over three minutes into the half. Knox kept the double-digit lead for a good portion of the second half, but the Rams threatened when they cut the lead to nine with 8:17 to play. The Prairie Fire snuffed out the rally by reeling off seven straight points and kept the double digit lead intact for the remainder of the contest.

Deryk Ruple and DJ Lewis led Knox with 14 points apiece. Protic added 13 points on 3-of-3 from long range.  Blake Godbold finished with 12 points and 11 boards for a double-double. Jonathan Damota also poured in 10 points and grabbed six rebounds. Protic and Lewis were both honored for senior day before the game and shot a combined 9-for-14 on the day.

Knox will play their final home game of the season on February 7 as they host Grinnell.