JACKSONVILLE, Illinois - The Prairie Fire men's basketball team dropped a conference game 84-64 at Illinois College on Tuesday night.

The Blueboys jumped out to a 17-2 lead early in the first half, but Knox chipped away at the lead and trailed 44-33 heading into halftime.

Illinois College began pulling away again early in the second half and cruised to victory.

Isaiah Lockett led Knox with a career high 29 points, hitting 7-of-9 from long-range and 10-of-16 overall. Sean Gallery added 11 points and eight rebounds.

"IC is a very good team this year," said head coach Ben Davis. "They got off to a hot start against us, but I thought we held our own for a good portion of the game. We have to stop getting behind big early, but I definitely saw some progress in certain aspects of our game. We will get back to work for this weekend."

The Prairie Fire return to action on January 21 as they travel to Lake Forest.