The Lawrence University men’s basketball team pulled away early in the second half and rolled to an 81-66 Midwest Conference victory over the Prairie Fire on Saturday at Alexander Gymnasium.
Davis DeWolfe led Lawrence (3-2, 2-1 MWC) with 19 points, and Conor Klusendorf posted a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Chris Siebert added 12 points and a team-high five assists for the Vikings.
Mitch Murphy paced Knox (0-4, 0-3) with 18 points with 17 of those coming in the first half.
Knox was hot from long range early and the Prairie Fire led by as many as seven points in the first half. Lawrence quickly rallied and led by as many as 10 points in the first half.
The Vikings were up 42-36 at the break and opened the second half with a 14-2 run. DeWolfe scored seven points in that run, including a three-point play to cap the outburst with 14:11 remaining.
Knox trimmed the lead back to 13 at 58-45 on David Jones’ three-point play, but Lawrence stretched the lead after that. The Vikings went on a 13-2 run to lead 71-47 with 7:42 left. Max Burgess started the run with a 3-pointer, Klusendorf added four points and DeWolfe capped the run with a layup to give Lawrence a 24-point edge.
Knox never got closer than 19 points until the final 33 seconds of the game.
Klusendorf, Lawrence’s career blocks leader and the MWC’s blocks leader, also picked up three blocks in the game and DeWolfe added a pair of rejections.
The Vikings were solid at the foul line, hitting on 20 of 24 attempts. Knox, which didn’t shoot a free throw in the first half, finished 7 of 15 from the line.