RIVER GROVE, ILL. - It was a monumental task that rarely happens in collegiate basketball as the Madison College men played back-to-back opponents ranked #1 in the nation, and Wednesday's 77-59 loss to Triton College (NJCAA DII) marked a second straight setback to teams atop the polls. The WolfPack is now winless in six games against ranked opponents this season and fell into a tie for fifth in the North Central Community College Conference standings.

The matchup was tight for the first ten minutes with the teams going back-and-forth and Madison College (10-15, 4-7) owning a one-point lead on three separate occasions. The last of which followed a Markus Tobias score in the paint to make it 22-21 with 10:06 to play in the half. The Trojans took over from there, finishing the half on a 23-6 scoring barrage to lead 44-28 going into the locker room. That stretch saw the WolfPack convert just 3-of-13 attempts overall and commit six turnovers.

First-place Triton (25-2, 11-0) carried the offensive momentum into the second half, scoring the first six points as they went on to build a 26-point lead twice throughout the half. Despite the heavy deficit, the second half played rather close, with the WolfPack only surrendering a two-point deficit in the scoring column over the final 20 minutes.

Ethan Lurquin led the 'Pack in scoring for a tenth time this season and fourth consecutive game, finishing with 17 points on an efficient 7-of-11 shooting. Sophomore Tyler Meier did most of his damage from long range, hitting 3-of-9 attempts outside the arc en route to 11 points. Both Lurquin and Meier secured six rebounds for team-high honors. Marquise Pollard added eight points off the bench, all coming in the second half.

The battle on the boards played a big role in the outcome with the Trojans collecting a 44-35 advantage in the rebound category. They also turned an impressive 19 offensive boards into a 14-3 edge in second chance scoring.

From a percentage standpoint the visiting WolfPack out-shot #1 Triton, hitting on 44% (24-54) overall, 31% (6-19) from three-point range, and 71% (5-7) at the free throw line. The Trojans simply took and made more shots in all three phases, finishing with percentages of .408/.276/.579.

The challenging run of games against ranked opponents continues with the final road test of the regular season when Madison College travels to #10 Milwaukee Area Technical College (NJCAA DIII) for an in-state showdown Saturday, February 13. Earlier this season in Madison, the Stormers (20-6, 7-4) triumphed 73-59 as the WolfPack was again trying to survive a gauntlet of games against teams listed among the best in the nation. The WolfPack had won two straight against Milwaukee prior to that loss and are eyeing a second consecutive split of the regular season series. Game time down I-94 is at 2:00 p.m.