GALESBURG, Ill. — The Knox College men's basketball team was undaunted by the undefeated record owned by its opponent on Tuesday evening as the Prairie Fire handed the Lawrence Vikings a 77-65 defeat at Memorial Gymnasium. Sophomore Noah Campbell led the charge with 17 points as Knox (4-2, 1-1 Midwest Conference) rained down a season-high 11 3-pointers, while Lawrence fell to 5-1 on the season and 0-1 in the league.

The game was generally a close affair with 10 lead changes and nine ties, although the Prairie Fire did put together a 13-0 run in the middle of the first half to take a 39-25 lead. But the Vikings immediately responded with 11 straight points over a four-minute span to close the gap to three, and at the intermission, the two teams were deadlocked at 43 apiece.

Over the first 11-plus minutes of the second stanza, the difference on the scoreboard was only once as many as three points following a long ball by junior Vladimir Marinov. When C.J. Campbell gave Lawrence a 58-56 lead on the game's only dunk, the Vikings' excitement was short-lived as Campbell was whistled for a technical for pulling himself up on the rim.

Noah Campbell sank the free throw for the Fire, and that started a 13-1 spurt, which included triples by sophomores Ryan Erdos and Willie Rogers III as well as a pair of fast-break layups by junior Josh Stewart, that put Knox in control with a 69-59 advantage with just under five minutes remaining.

The Vikings battled back, however, scoring the next six points with three coming on a trifecta by their leading scorer on the night, Nathan Valentine (15 points). But that 69-65 deficit was as close as Lawrence would get thanks to the Prairie Fire converting six straight free throws in the final 80 seconds to seal their first league victory of the season.

• Noah Campbell hit on 6-of-12 field goals and 3-of-5 from the perimeter, and he was joined in double figures by Rogers (11) and Stewart (10), the latter of whom also dished out a game-high six assists.
• Erdos also drained a trio of 3-pointers, scoring all nine of his points from distance in just 10 minutes on the court.
• In the Prairie Fire's first five games, they had hit 21 treys on 78 attempts (.269), then bombed the Vikings with 11 long balls in 29 attempts (.379), their most 3-pointers in a game since Feb. 3, 2024 at Ripon.
• Knox turned the ball over a season-low 11 times and held Lawrence to 38.1 percent accuracy on its field goals.
• The Prairie Fire beat Lawrence for just the fifth time in the last 38 meetings, but also the third time in the last six.
• Knox will attempt to sweep the series for the first time in 26 years when it goes to Appleton for the final game of the regular season on Feb. 21, 2026.
• The 4-2 start to the season it the best for the Prairie Fire since opening the 2003-04 campaign at 5-1.

Knox next hosts rival Monmouth College (4-2, 0-0 MWC) on Saturday, Dec. 6, after the Fighting Scots play their conference opener tomorrow evening against Illinois College. Tip-off at Memorial Gymnasium will be at 1 p.m., and the game will be live streamed with stats available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College Athletics.