CARLINVILLE, Ill. — Entering the second half tied at 35, the Knox College men's basketball team rattled off the first nine points of the stanza and never let host Blackburn College recover as the Prairie Fire handed the Battlin' Beavers an 82-67 defeat on Tuesday evening at Dawes Gymnasium. Sophomore Ryan Erdos had a career-high 19 points while his classmate, Willie Rogers III, added 16 — both coming off the bench — to lead Knox to its first 2-0 start to a season in four years. Blackburn dropped to 0-2 on the season.
Senior Russell Wright provided the first three buckets of the second half — six of his nine points on the night — to jump start the Knox offense after the intermission. A few minutes later, Erdos hit one of his three 3-pointers of the game that extended the Prairie Fire lead to double digits for the first time at 49-38.
The two teams traded baskets, one of which was a fast-break dunk by sophomore Willie Rogers III to keep the lead at 11, but the Beavers gnawed away at their deficit to close the gap to three at 54-51 with nine minutes still to play. Erdos, who was 7-of-8 from the floor, answered immediately with a layup, which started an 11-0 Knox run that Rogers III capped with a triple, part of his 16 points off the bench. The lead never dipped below 10 points the rest of the game.
The first half featured five lead changes and a pair of ties, but Blackburn held a 27-20 lead after a long ball from Evan Jordan (team-high 13 points). The tide turned in the Prairie Fire's favor from that point on as they ripped off 10 straight points, half of which Rogers III provided with a trifecta and a pair of free throws. Only a 3-pointer by Braydn Pieper just before the buzzer kept Knox from taking a lead into the locker room.
- Knox shot a robust 55.3 percent (26-of-47) from the floor, 46.2 percent (6-of-13) from the perimeter and 77.4 percent (24-of-31) at the charity stripe, all while holding Blackburn to 32.2 percent (19-of-59) on field goals.
- The Prairie Fire also enjoyed a hefty 42-26 advantage on the glass.
- Sophomore Noah Campbell and first-year Ayden Ayer joined Erdos and Rogers III in double figures with 10 points apiece.
- Erdos' 19 points came in just 18 minutes and more than doubled his previous highest output of seven points.
- This is just the fourth time this century that Knox has opened a season 2-0 — 2003-04, 2019-20 and 2021-22.
- The Prairie Fire are 6-2 against Blackburn since 1950.
Knox returns to Galesburg to host Franklin College (2-0) at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 3 p.m. The Prairie Fire have not had a team begin a season with three consecutive victories since starting the 1999-2000 with six straight wins. A live video stream and stats will be available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox Athletics.
