RIPON, Wis. — The Ripon College men’s basketball team missed just seven shots from the floor in the second half and rallied for a 95-81 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University on Wednesday at the Storzer Center.
Ripon (10-5, 7-3 MWC) went 22-for-29 (75.9 percent) from the floor in the second half to rally from a 45-33 halftime deficit. Kyle Loughrin hit 13-of-18 shots from the floor on his way to a game-high 31 points for the Red Hawks.
Sophomore forward Trace Sonnleitner came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points for Lawrence (6-8, 4-5), which shot 56.1 percent from the floor for the game. Chris Siebert added 18 points for the Vikings, Jamie Nikitas had 15 points and Ryan DePouw picked up 14.
Lawrence jumped out to an early 10-points lead and led by as many as 15 points in the first half. Ripon cut the margin to six points late in the first half, but the Vikings got 3-pointers from Siebert and Tyler Mazur to push the lead back to 12 at the half.
Ripon’s hot shooting in the second half allowed it to erase Lawrence’s lead in less than eight minutes. Ripon tied the game at 57-57 at the 12:46 mark, and the Red Hawks slowly built a lead to as many as seven points over the next five minutes.
Lawrence trimmed the margin to four points with just under five minutes left, but Ripon then put the game away at the foul line. Ripon went 8-for-8 from the line in the final 2:23 to seal the win.
Ripon had an enormous advantage at the line, going 19-for-23. Lawrence shot only five free throws during the game.