The Ripon College men’s basketball team rallied in the final two minutes and pulled out a 63-60 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Wednesday night at Alexander Gymnasium.
Scott Gillespie paced Ripon (13-9, 11-6 MWC) with 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Aris Wurtz added 16 points for the Red Hawks.
Erik Borresen led Lawrence (11-11, 10-7) with a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds. Chris Siebert added 12 points and Tyler Crisman had 11 for the Vikings.
Lawrence led 58-54 after Jon Mays’ layup with 2:26 left, but Ripon got a big 3-pointer from Brad Brooks to trim the lead to 58-57 with 2:11 remaining.
After a miss by the Vikings, Gillespie was fouled and converted both free throws with 1:35 left to give Ripon a 59-58 lead.
Siebert countered for Lawrence and hit a jumper with 1:21 left to put the Vikings up 60-59. Wurtz answered for Ripon by hitting a short jumper with 1:05 remaining to give Ripon a 61-60 edge.
The Vikings then turned the ball over, and Lawrence was forced to foul Gillespie with 14 seconds left. He made both free throws to give Ripon a 63-60 lead.
Mays attempted a 3-pointer with five seconds left, but it was off the mark. Ripon grabbed the rebound and were able to dribble out the remaining few seconds.