APPLETON, Wis. -- The Ripon College men's basketball team earned a spot in the Midwest Conference Tournament championship game with a 75-60 win over Lake Forest College Friday at Alexander Gymnasium.
The Red Hawks (18-6) took advantage of good shooting and played solid defense to down the Foresters (14-10) in the semifinals. Ripon will take on the top seed, Lawrence University, in the title game Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
Bo Johnson paced Ripon with 23 points on 8 of 12 shooting from the floor, which included a 6 of 7 performance from beyond the 3-point arc. David McMullen added 20 points. Tom Becker had 11 points and a game-high nine assists.
Greg Klos paced Lake Forest with 21 points, and Franklyn Beckford had 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Ripon led by four at the half and built that lead to as many as 16 points. Lake Forest went on an 8-0 run that included 3-pointers from Brad Wehner and Dodd Browning to close to 63-56 with 3:38 left.
Ripon scored the next three points, and Lake Forest didn't get closer than eight points the rest of the way.