JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - Ripon's men's basketball team extended their conference-best winning streak to seven games Saturday afternoon with an 88-64 victory at Illinois College. The Red Hawks put on arguably their best shooting performance of the season, making a school record 16 3-pointers, including 12 in the first half, while shooting 55 percent (16-29) from behind the arc.

Illinois College (7-12, 2-10 MWC) scored the game's first basket, but it was all Ripon after that, as the Red Hawks (12-5, 9-3 MWC) scored the next eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers by Isaac Masters, and they would never trail the rest of the day. Ripon took their first double-digit lead of the game just five minutes into the contest on a layup by Masters, which was followed by another of his six 3-pointers. The Red Hawks led by as many as 30 points in the first half and went into halftime leading 56-32.

The second half began much like the first, with a Masters 3-pointer. Ripon would take a 30-point lead just minutes later on another 3-pointer from Masters, before Tyler Semenas gave the Red Hawks their largest lead of 32 points on a jumper with just under 17 minutes remaining.

Masters led all players with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting (6-of-9 from 3-point range), to go along with a career-high eight assists. Semenas added 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range, while Seth Kostrowski scored 14 points off the bench, making 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

Illinois College was led by Mason Speer's 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, to go along with six assists. Brady Hays added 15 points and four rebounds.

Saturday's win now sets up a battle for first place on Tuesday against St. Norbert, who currently sits atop the MWC, just one game ahead of the Red Hawks. That game will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Ripon and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.