RIPON, Wis. — The Ripon College men’s basketball team rallied late in the second half Wednesday and went on to a 72-63 Midwest Conference win over Lawrence University at the Storzer Center.
Justin Leistikow led Ripon with 21 points as he went 8-for-8 from the floor, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, and Kyle Loughrin added 19 points. Ripon’s Ty Sabin, second in the nation in scoring at 29.3 points per game, was limited to 15 points and hit only 4-of-13 shots from the floor.
Ryan DePouw paced Lawrence (5-10, 3-6) with 16 points, and Pete Winslow added 10 points as he connected on 3-of-4 shots from 3-point range. Mitch Willer had a perfect night as he added eight points on 3-for-3 shooting from the floor and 2-for-2 from the foul line.
Ripon had a 12-point advantage at 24-12 before Lawrence rallied in the first half. Lawrence went on a 15-2 run over the final 7:14 of the first half to take a 27-26 lead at the break. Winslow, Jeremy Stephani and Troy Miller had four points apiece over that stretch for the Vikings.
Lawrence led by as many as four points twice in the second half before Ripon rallied. In a four-minute stretch, the Red Hawks went on a 19-5 run to turn a 49-45 deficit into a 64-54 lead with 4:52 remaining. Loughrin scored seven points during the run for Ripon.
Winslow countered with a 3-pointer, and Vikings picked up a three-point play from Willer and a jumper from DePouw to cut the margin to 67-62 with 2:25 left.
Sabin then scored the game’s next four points, sandwiched around a missed Lawrence 3-pointer, to push the lead back to 71-62 and seal the victory.