APPLETON, Wisconsin—The Knox Prairie Fire men's basketball team fell to the Lawrence Vikings by a final score of 58-78 today in Appleton. The loss opens up a two-game conference stand and moves their overall record to 2-3 on the young season. 

In the first half, the Prairie Fire struggled to get much going on the offensive side of the ball. Forcing Knox to shoot just 26.7% from the field, Lawrence's defense managed to contest many of the shots that were put up. Despite pulling down 19 rebounds, Knox was unable to put many of them back into the basket. Wes Jolly managed to make the most out his minutes off the bench, going 2-4 from the field and hauling in two offensive rebounds. The Prairie Fire defense managed to hold the Vikings to a respectable 37.5% in the half, but Lawrence's 6-14 line from beyond the arc caused Knox to enter the half down by eight.

Knox's offense improved greatly in the second half, as they managed to score 31 points and go 13-32 from the floor. Zach Lowe drained two three-pointers, and Jolly continued his impressive night by going a perfect 3-3 in the half. However, the Vikings offense was more than up for the task, shooting an otherworldly 66.7%, with Brad Sendell going 8-8 from the charity stripe and putting up 18 points in the second half alone. Lawrence's motion offense was tough to stop, and as a result the outscored Knox 47-35 in the half, creating the 20-point difference that was the final score.

Lowe finished with 16 points and nine rebounds to lead the Prairie Fire. Wes Jolly and Jordan Rayne each added 10 points.

"It was nice to get a conference game under our belt," said head coach Ben Davis. "We will get back to work for a matchup against Grinnell this weekend."

Knox looks to achieve their first conference victory of the season when they host Grinnell College this Saturday at 1:00 p.m.