GALESBURG, Ill. — Senior Sean Gallery scored the last of his team-high 19 points on a bucket off an inbounds play under the Knox basket with 10 seconds to play, sending the Prairie Fire (3-9) to a 74-73 victory over visiting Simpson College (3-9) at Memorial Gymnasium on the afternoon of New Year's Eve. The win snapped Knox's seven-game slide and gives the team some momentum entering the new year.

"The team did a great job executing at the end and adapting to the situation," said head coach Corey Harvey after the game. "There were a few other options that pulled the defense away and opened the space he needed to finish, but credit goes to the entire team for setting it up perfectly and creating the space needed for him to get the game-winning basket."

The Storm took an early lead and rode the hot hand throughout the stanza, shooting 55.6 percent (15-of-27) from the floor and 60 percent (6-of-10) from distance as they built their bulge to as many as nine during the opening half before settling for a 43-36 edge at the intermission.

In the second half, Levi Gurwell, who led Simpson with 12 points in the first half, matched that total in the first five minutes, helping the Storm maintain its lead and eventually go up by 12 with 12 minutes to go. But the next six minutes belonged to Knox, which embarked on a 17-4 run that featured a three-point play by first-year Daunte Smith, a pair of triples from junior Cole Andres and a trio of layups by sophomore Josh Stewart. The last two layups by Stewart ended the run and put the Prairie Fire on top for the first time with 6:04 on the clock.

Simpson reclaimed the lead by hitting 1-of-2 at the line then knocking down its 10th 3-pointer of the day, courtesy of Austin Murrow. But Stewart, who finished the game with his Midwest Conference-leading fourth double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds, drove for another layup and junior Russell Wright sank two foul shots to put the Prairie fire up, 72-71, with under a minute to play.

Back and forth the score went with Colton Rasmussen hitting a 13-footer in the paint, and Knox had the opportunity to take the final shot with the shot clock off. Following a timeout that set up a baseline inbounds play, Stewart found Gallery near on the edge of the lane on the baseline, and his one-hander hit the iron and dropped through. Rasmussen raced down the court and attempted a shot from nearly the same spot he hit the previous one, but it only drew the front of the iron and Gallery corralled the rebound, calling timeout with 0.4 seconds to play as he lay on the floor after the scrum to gain control. The inbounds pass was uneventful and Knox had its second home victory in three tries this season.

"Even though we trailed for so much of the game," Harvey said, "Coach Jackson, Coach Foster and the entire bench did a phenomenal job staying positive and engaged throughout, keeping our energy up. The guys on the floor did a great job staying consistent through adversity."

• Andrews drilled a career-high five 3-pointers in tallying 18 points.
• The Prairie Fire trailed for 34:32 and led for just 1:23.
• Knox boosted its rebounding efforts after halftime; after being beaten on the boards by a 20-14 margin in the opening stanza, the Fire doubled up Simpson in the second half, 26-13.
• The Prairie Fire performed well in two areas that have been problematic this season, committing only 13 turnovers (7.5 below their season average) and converting 14-of-17 free throws (.824).
• This is the first game that Knox has won this season when trailing at the half.
• Gurwell led the Storm with 24 points and Matt Schubert had a double-double with 14 points and 10 caroms.

Knox returns to action in eight days for the bulk of the Midwest Conference schedule, beginning with a home contest against Lake Forest (3-6, 0-2 MWC) at Memorial Gymnasium on Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Live video and stats will be available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College athletics.