MONMOUTH, Ill. - Ripon's men's basketball team will defend their MWC Tournament Championship on Saturday. The Red Hawks defeated St. Norbert College 82-60 Friday night in the MWC semifinals to advance to the Championship game for the second consecutive season. The win gives Ripon a clean sweep against St. Norbert this season, defeating the Green Knights three times on the year, and giving them four wins against SNC in their last five meetings.

Ripon (18-6) shot 51 percent (26-51) from the field, including a scintillating 65 percent (15-23) in the second half, while also converting 63 percent (10-16) of their 3-pointers and 87 percent (20-23) of their free throws. The Red Hawks also turned the ball over just six times, while forcing St. Norbert (19-7) into 10 turnovers, which they turned into 16 points.

The game was a see-saw battle early on, with four ties and five lead changes in the first half. St. Norbert got out to a seven-point lead with 12 minutes left in the half, but Ripon battled back, scoring seven consecutive points to tie the score at 14 with eight and a half minutes left in the period. Neither team led by more than four points in the next seven minutes until Ripon closed the half on a 7-2 run to take a 35-28 lead into halftime.

The Red Hawks were just getting started, as they didn't trail for the remainder of the contest. Ripon took their first double-digit lead at the 16 and a half minute mark on a three-point play by Tyler Semenas. After St. Norbert cut the lead back to six with 15 minutes remaining, Ripon proceeded to go on a 21-4 run during the next seven minutes to put the game away. The Red Hawks led by as many as 24 points in the second half.

Ripon's offensive output featured a balanced scoring attack, led by Isaac Masters' 22 points, to go along with three assists. Cal Schultz added 19 points and four rebounds, making all four of his 3-point attempts, while Trent Jones scored 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Semenas also chipped in with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds, to go along with two blocks and two steals.

St. Norbert was led by Mitchell Reinthaler's 24 points and eight rebounds, while Wade Geenen scored 10 points, to go along with three assists. Connor Curtis added 10 points in 19 minutes off the bench.

Ripon will now play the host and number one seeded Monmouth College in Saturday's MWC Tournament Championship at 3 p.m. That game will take place at Glennie Gymnasium in Monmouth, Ill. with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Division-III Tournament. The Championship game can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.