'PHOENIX, AZ 12/31/02  –  The Keene State College men's basketball team lost for the first time this season, a 84-77 setback against nationally ranked Ripon College of Wisconsin, at the Grand Canyon Classic in Phoenix on Monday.

KSC (8-1) fell behind by 16 points, rallied to tie the game in the second half, before running out of gas.

"We're happy that at least we fought with them," said senior guard Derek Swenson, who led the team with 18 points. "We didn't give up and break down.  We at least fought back and tied it up, but we just couldn't get over the hump today."

KSC opened the Classic Sunday with a 45-37 win over Wisconsin-Superior, but the undefeated Red Hawks, 7-0, were the strongest team it faced all season. Ripon has been to the national tournament seven straight years and is nationally ranked.

Ripon jumped out to a 31-15 lead in the game.  It still led 46-30 after scoring the first four points of the second half, but then the Owls made their run.They tied the game at 53 on a Swenson jumper with 10:35 to play in the second half.  However, they couldn't take the lead and Ripon countered with a 15-6 run that put the game away.

Freshman Sean Sullivan added 13 points and five rebounds for KSC, and Alphonse Michalski finished with 12 points.

"The first 20 minutes we backed down from some challenges, which is very uncharacteristic of this team, so I was a little disappointed with that," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.  "But in the second half I was incredibly happy because we battled, we contested, we never quit.  We really made a run at them."

The Owls hurt themselves with 20 turnovers and shot only 18-for-35 from the free-throw line. Still, the players and coach believe that the trip was a valuable learning experience.

"It was definitely a good experience," Swenson said. " We got to play teams out of region and see how we matched up.  "We got a win, which is something, and we played tough against a team which will probably be ranked in the top 15 next week."

Keene State returns home to host Springfield College on Jan. 9.

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