RIPON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team pulled away late and posted a 77-69 Midwest Conference victory over Ripon College on Wednesday night at the Storzer Center.
Tyler Crisman scored 21 points to lead Lawrence (9-12, 8-9 MWC) and all scorers. Tyler Mazur came off the bench to pour in a career-high 17 points for the Vikings, who swept the season series from the Red Hawks.
Taylor Koth and Aris Wurtz both had double-doubles for Ripon (14-8, 10-7). Koth had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Wurtz added 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Lawrence led by as many as seven points in the first half, and Ripon was up by as many as six points before the break.
The Vikings led 49-48 when they went on a 10-4 run midway through the second half, capped by Mazur’s 3-pointer, to grab a 59-52 edge with 8:44 left. Mazur was 5-for-8 from beyond the arc on the night.
After a Nic Schaalma free throw trimmed the margin to 59-53, Lawrence got back-to-back jumpers from Brian Gryszkiewicz and Chris Siebert and a 3-pointer from Mazur to go up 66-55.
Koth’s three-point play cut the margin back to 66-58, but Lawrence put the clamps on the Red Hawks over the next four minutes. In a stretch of 3:59, all Ripon got was two free throws as the Vikings stretched the lead to 73-60. Siebert scored five points in that stretch, including a pair of free throws with 2:20 left that gave Lawrence its biggest lead of the night at 13 points.
Ripon battled back with seven consecutive points, capped by Tyler Ketz’s 3-pointer with 1:14 left, to cut the margin to 73-67. Andrew Kline’s layup off a feed from Gryszkiewicz pushed the lead back to 75-67, and Ripon went cold after that.
The Red Hawks missed their next three shots from the floor, and Mazur sealed the win with a pair of free throws with just 14 seconds remaining.
Lawrence wraps up its season on Saturday when it hosts St. Norbert College.