RIPON, Wis. – Saturday's game against Beloit was never in any real doubt. The Red Hawks scored the first 17 points of the game, all but ensuring their victory on Senior Day. Ripon used that run to send their four seniors, Bo Johnson, David McMullen, Jonathan Murphy, and Brian Schmitting, off with an 82-60 victory in their final regular season home game.

The Buccaneers (4-19, 4-12) didn't help their cause much, missing thier first five shots of the game, while turning the ball over five times in the first six minutes. Ripon (13-9, 11-5) took full advantage of that, making eight of their first 11 shots to get out to that early 17-point lead. Beloit finally got on the board with just under 14 minutes to play in the half on an Andy Horton jumper. After that early scoring display, the Red Hawks set themselves on cruise control the rest of the half, never leading by less than double digits the rest of the half. Ripon took an 11 point lead into the locker room after Beloit scored the last four points of the period.

The two teams played evenly to start the second half, with Ripon leading by no more than 15 points. Beloit was able to get that lead down to nine points with 10 and a half minutes to play, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the way. After their lead was cut to double-digits, the Red Hawks used a 13-4 lead, which was capped by a Paul Wise layup, to double their lead to 18 points. After that, Ripon could breath easy, as they emptied their bench, en route to their 22-point win.

Ripon's seniors stepped up fittingly enough, on Senior Day. Schmitting led all scorers with 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting, to go along with nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and two steals. Fellow seniors Johnson and McMullen finished with 16 and 15 points, respectively. McMullen also recorded seven assists, five of which came in the first five and a half minutes of play. Paul Wise and Vehantre Brown each finished with nine points. Brown made a couple key second-half baskets right after Beloit cut the lead to nine. The Red Hawks finished the game shooting 60 percent (37-62) from the field.

Beloit was led by Horton's 20 points and eight rebounds. Matt Fieck was the only other Buccaneer in double figures, scoring 10 points. Ripon dominated the Buc's in the paint, outscoring them 50-28 down low. Beloit turned the ball over 21 times, while the Red Hawks only committed 15 turnovers.

With the win, Ripon clinches the number three seed in the Midwest Conference Tournament. They will play Carroll College Friday at 5:00 p.m. at Grinnell College. That will be followed by number four seed Lake Forest taking on top seeded Grinnell at 7:00 p.m.