The Lawrence University men’s basketball team used a balanced attack and good shooting to down Ripon College 85-81 in a Midwest Conference game on Tuesday night at Alexander Gymnasium.
Chris Siebert scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half to pace five Lawrence players in double figures. Tyler Crisman added 16 points for the Vikings (7-10, 6-7 MWC), and Davis DeWolfe added 15. Conor Klusendorf and Ryan DePouw added 14 points apiece, and Klusendorf had a team-high nine rebounds.
Aris Wurtz and Taylor Koth did nearly all the damage for Ripon (12-6, 8-5). Wurtz had a double-double with 34 points and 11 rebounds, and Koth added 30 points and 13 rebounds.
Lawrence, which shot 54.7 percent for the game and 40.7 percent on 3-pointers, led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but Ripon rallied to trim the margin to 37-32 at the half.
Ripon went on a 9-2 run midway through the second half to take a 60-57 lead with 11:51 left. Lawrence answered with a 3-pointer from Siebert, a layup from DeWolfe and 3-pointer from DePouw to grab a 65-60 lead with 10:04 remaining.
After a jumper from Koth, Lawrence got back-to-back 3-pointers from Siebert and a free throw from Tyler Mazur to take a 72-62 lead with 6:44 left.
Ripon slowly worked the lead down to only three points at 76-73 with 1:07 left, but the Vikings then sealed the victory at the foul line. Lawrence went 9-for-10 from the line in the final 38 seconds to seal the victory.
Siebert did see his streak of 42 consecutive made free throws snapped in the second half.
Lawrence returns to action on Friday when it hosts Lake Forest College.