By: Clark Shanahan
GALESBURG, Illinois - The Knox Prairie Fire men’s basketball team fell to the Beloit Buccaneers by a final score of 60-53 this Thursday. With the defeat, Knox’s record sits at 5-8 on the season, with a 1-4 mark in Midwest Conference play.
Knox’s offensive woes on the day began early, and their poor shooting would end up being their downfall on the day. The Prairie Fire’s offense only managed a 33.33% shooting clip from the floor, with few of their layups and jumpers finding the bottom of the net. Matt Garife paced the team in scoring with 17 points, providing some stability in what was otherwise a rocky night for the team. While Knox’s offense struggled in the first half, their defense proved to be the reason the team stayed in the game, as they held Beloit to only 20 points. Because of this, Knox entered halftime up by 4, leaders after an ugly 20 minutes of basketball.
While the Prairie Fire continued to get shots off at an impressive rate, they were unable to get them to fall. Knox went only 12-for-30 as a team, and were unable to draw many free throws to balance it out. When the Prairie Fire could not get anything going offensively, their defensive performance sagged under the weight of the short offensive possessions. Beloit’s three point shooting came on fire, and they buried Knox with their 6-for-9 showing from beyond the arc in the half. As a result, the Prairie Fire ended up falling by 7.
"We were down a few players tonight," said head coach Ben Davis. "We had moments in the first half, but we were playing from behind too much in the second half."
Knox looks to improve their conference record when they host Lake Forest College this Saturday at 1:00 p.m.