GALESBURG, Ill. — After seeing its 14-point halftime lead get gnawed down by the visiting Blackburn College Beavers to one with a minute to play, the Knox College Prairie Fire (2-2) kept their cool and prevailed in their home opener by a final of 84-80. Junior Cole Andrews calmly sank two free throws with six seconds left, boosting the two-point lead to four, making the 3-point attempt by Blackburn (0-4) at the buzzer moot whether it had hit the mark or not.

Senior Sean Gallery led all players with 23 points for Knox as he connected on 9-of-15 from the floor, while also grabbing 12 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double and sixth of his career. Andrews provided 15 points with a trio of triples, and junior and local product Carl Dortch came off the bench to score 11.

The Prairie Fire lead was still an even dozen at 60-48 midway through the second half when the Beavers caught fire from the perimeter. Over a stretch of four-plus minute, Blackburn hit 4-of-5 from long range and 7-of-9 overall while also forcing three turnovers as the difference was suddenly down to one, 69-68, with nearly five minutes still to play.

A quick seven-point run, ignited by an Andrews trey and a thunderous Dortch dunk, boosted the lead back to eight, but the Beavers kept raining 3-pointers, one by Darius Duff sandwiched between two by Tyson Johnson, closing the gap to one once again at 79-78 with just under a minute to go.

Again Andrews answered by dialing up from distance, and Cameron Johnson hit a turn-around jumper in the lane with 7.4 seconds left. Knox inbounded the ball to Andrews who was fouled immediately, allowing him to seal the victory at the line.

In the opening half, the lead exchanged hands six times in the first nine minutes before the Prairie Fire gradually built up its lead to double digits at 38-28 with 1:55 until the intermission on a trifecta courtesy of first-year Willie Rogers III. Sophomore Josh Stewart and Gallery added layups before time expired for that 14-point halftime lead.

• Knox knocked down more than half of its field goal attempts (33-of-65, .508) and 8-of-21 (.381) from behind the arc.
• The Prairie Fire enjoyed a 44-32 advantage on the glass but turned the ball over 20 times that led to 30 Blackburn points.
• After hitting just 27.6 percent (8-of-29) of their field goals in the first half, the Beavers unblocked the dam on the rim and hit 50 percent (17-of-34) in the second half and 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from deep.
• Blackburn also helped itself nearly all game at the charity stripe, converting 18-of-22, though two of its misses came with 2:23 to play, trailing by four.
• Gallery is just 22 points away from becoming the 14th player in Knox program history to score 1,000 in a career.
• Nine of the 10 Prairie Fire players to see action had at least one of the team's 23 assists, led by first-year Brandon Cooley with five.

Knox goes back on the road for its next three contests, starting with a trip to Franklin College in Indiana on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. with live video and stats available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College athletics.