RIPON, Wis. - Ripon's men's basketball team defeated Lake Forest 75-68 Tuesday night to clinch a spot in the Midwest Conference Tournament for the eighth time in Head Coach Ryan Kane's nine non-COVID-shortened seasons with the Red Hawks. The win also marks Ripon's eighth consecutive 15-win season (not counting the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season).

The first half was back-and-forth for all 20 minutes, featuring seven ties and 12 lead changes before halftime, with neither team leading by more than three points. Sean Espinosa gave Lake Forest (9-15, 8-7 MWC) a 34-31 lead late in the period, but Dominic Galati answered with a three-pointer to tie the contest. Johnny Roeser then gave the Foresters a two-point lead at intermission, hitting a jumper just before halftime.


Lake Forest would extend that lead to seven with a 7-2 run in the opening minutes of the second half. After falling behind by eight later in the period, Ripon (15-8, 11-3 MWC) climbed back into the contest by scoring eight consecutive points to tie the score at 53 with just under nine minutes remaining. After falling behind by seven just minutes later, Ripon cut that lead to three with three minutes remaining. That's when the Red Hawks made their move, ending the game on a 12-2 run, keyed by six points from Jaylen Mahone in the final two minutes.

Mahone led the Red Hawks with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting off the bench. Ryan Steffes and David DeValk each scored 14 points, while also posting five and seven rebounds, respectively. Ripon finished the game shooting 47 percent (29-62) from the field, including 35 percent (6-17) from 3-point range.

Lake Forest was led by Espinosa's 16 points and eight assists, while Frank Siegien and Rocco Ronzio scored 14 and 12 points respectively. Roeser added a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds, to go along with four blocked shots. The Foresters shot 50 percent (30-60) from the field, including 38 percent (6-16) from 3-point range.

Ripon remains tied with Cornell atop the MWC standings with two games remaining. The Red Hawks will host Monmouth College on Friday at 5:30 p.m. on what will also be Senior Day. That game will be played at Willmore Center, and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.