RIVER FOREST, Ill. — Knox College senior Sean Gallery scored 20 points, but host Dominican (Ill.) University utilized an opportunistic defense, strong work on the offensive glass and accurate foul shooting to defeat the visiting Prairie Fire on Friday evening at the Igini Sports Forum in the season opener for both teams by an 80-73 final.
Gallery was 5-of-11 from the floor and 10-of-13 at the charity stripe to reach 20 points for the 11th time in his career. He was supported by an efficient 15 points from junior Cole Andrews (4-of-6 field goals, 2-of-3 behind the arc and 5-of-5 at the line) and a double-double of 10 points and rebounds from sophomore Josh Stewart, both career highs. Turnovers, however, were a problem as the Stars forced 25 miscues that turned in 29 points.
Dominican led for most of the first half, owning an eight-point advantage on several occasions, the last at 26-18 with 4:42 left in the half. But a 9-0 Knox run erased that deficit, and Gallery provided the final bucket of the half to give the Prairie Fire a slim 31-30 lead at the intermission.
The first 12 minutes of the second stanza went back and forth as a one-possession game the entire time, except for a brief 4-point Knox lead that was immediately chopped down to one on a Star 3-pointer, one of their nine long balls on the night. But with 9:39 to play, Robert Taylor hit a pair of free throws for a 52-51 Dominican lead it would never relinquish, though not from a lack of trying by Knox.
It was still a two-point game with 7:30 remaining, but an 11-2 Star run ballooned the difference into double digits. Down 72-62 with 3:10 to play, the Prairie Fire went to work with Gallery getting three points the hard way and first-year Willie Rogers III three more from downtown — his first collegiate points — to suddenly make it a four-point contest less than a minute later.
An Andrews 3-pointer with 46 seconds left closed the gap to three, but two Dominican free throws and a layup after a steal sealed Knox's fate.
- While Gallery and Andrews combined to hit 15-of-18 at the foul line, the rest of the team was just 4-of-15, leaving the Prairie Fire shooting 57.6 percent from the stripe; Dominican converted 23-of-27 (85.2 percent).
- Knox held a slim 44-43 advantage on the boards, but the Stars had 18 on the offensive end that led to 19 second-chance points.
- Junior Russell Wright did a little bit of everything, knocking down both field goal attempts, hauling in nine rebounds, dishing out five of the team's nine assists, blocking two shots and stealing the ball twice.
- Knox had won its last four season openers.
- Terrell Taylor led the Stars with 15 points while Camron Scott had a double-double of 12 points and 11 boards.
The Prairie Fire will be back in action on Tuesday, Nov. 12 when they play at 7 p.m. at Millikin University, which opens its season tomorrow afternoon at Beloit College. Live stats from the Griswold Center will be available through the official website of Knox College athletics, PrairieFire.Knox.edu.