JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — The Knox College men's basketball team was unable to play the role of spoiler at Illinois College as the host Blueboys clinched their berth in the Midwest Conference Tournament next week with an 86-63 victory over the Prairie Fire (4-20, 1-14 MWC) on Wednesday evening at Sherman Gymnasium. Buzz Ritzel scored 29 points for Illinois College (17-8, 10-6 MWC) in his final home game to help his squad secure the third seed at the tournament.

Knox's shooting woes continued as it hit on just 33.3 percent (22-of-66) from the floor and 18.2 percent (4-of-22) from the perimeter. Junior Russell Wright had 14 points on 6-of-9 from the floor to pace the Prairie Fire while sophomore Josh Stewart added 11.

Things looked promising out of the gate as Knox scored the first two baskets of the night, but the Blueboys responded by scoring 14 of the next 16 points to take a 14-6 advantage. After the lead was stretched to 11, the Prairie Fire rattled off a modest 7-0 run that included the first of two 3-pointers by first-year Ryan Erdos, making it a 22-18 contest.

That would be as close as Knox would get, however, as Illinois College built its lead back up to double digits at 30-20 and continued to build upon it until the buzzer sounded with Knox down 17, 47-30.

But the Prairie Fire didn't roll over for the Blueboys, even when the hosts quickly went up by 22 at the start of the second stanza. Knox chipped away and closed the gap back down to 10 at 63-53 when Wright completed a three-point play with still more than 10 minutes on the clock. All thoughts of a big second-half comeback were doused when Illinois College scored the next 10 points, eight courtesy of Ritzel.

• The game featured 51 fouls (31 on Knox) with Illinois College hitting 28-of-39 (.696) at the charity stripe compared to 14-of-21 (.714) for the visitors.
• Junior Cole Andrews had eight rebounds and Wright seven, but the Blueboys enjoyed a decisive 54-36 edge on the glass.
• The 10 team turnovers were a season low for the Fire.
• Knox has lost its last nine straight games and Illinois College has won the last 11 meetings in the series.
• The Prairie Fire have shot under 39 percent in each of their last five games.
• Senior Sean Gallery scored eight points to surpass 1,300 for his career; he needs just six more to move up to sixth place on Knox's career scoring list.

Knox will close out the 2024-25 season on Saturday in Mount Vernon, Iowa, as it clashes with Cornell College (14-10, 8-7 MWC), which suffered a 16-point loss at first-place Monmouth tonight. The Rams need to beat the Prairie Fire and Lake Forest to lose at Beloit to earn a spot at the Midwest Conference Tournament at Monmouth next week. The Prairie Fire will tip off against Cornell at 3 p.m. with a live stream and stats available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College athletics.