Cornell’s men’s basketball team rallied from seven points down in the final 76 seconds of regulation and prevailed 84-79 in a Midwest Conference overtime cooker over Lawrence Saturday inside the Small Athletic and Wellness Center.
The late comeback vaulted the Rams (6-10 overall, 4-3 MWC) into a third-place tie with Lake Forest with still nine MWC games to go. The young and talented Vikings dipped to 6-11 overall, 3-5 in the MWC.
Cornell’s Jordan Magnani enjoyed another exceptional game, netting a game-high 23 points while playing all 45 minutes in an entertaining battle that featured 15 ties and 21 lead changes. The fifth-year guard entered triple-double territory with eight rebounds and seven assists, to go along with three steals.
Magnani’s drive to the rim tied it at 70-70 with four seconds left in regulation, capping a 7-0 Cornell spurt. A Jayden Meeker free throw and buckets by Izic Mackey and Zach Ingle preceded Magnani’s shot the forced overtime.
Meeker drained a 3-pointer that put the Rams ahead to stay at 79-76 with 1:00 remaining in the overtime. Mackey and Ingle converted back-to-back field goals in the final 23 seconds to seal the victory.
The Rams held an 11-point advantage from the foul line, hitting 18-of-22 free throws. Magnani buried all eight of his free throw attempts after intermission.
Meeker registered his second double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Ingle finished with 15 points. The Rams received a boost off the bench from Mackey (14 points, five rebounds) and Jeremy Durdan (eight points, seven rebounds).
The Rams survived 14 3-point goals from the Vikings, who shot a torrid 51.9 percent from beyond the arc. Reserve Nick Hesch paced Lawrence with 20 points, going 6-of-6 from long range.
Earlier in the week, the Rams had a 72-47 win against Knox.
The Rams (5-10 overall) broke open a competitive 31-29 game at halftime with a huge 20-2 surge to start the second half, moving Cornell back even in the MWC at 3-3.
Sophomore sharpshooter Zach Ingle canned a career-high seven 3-pointers and led all scorers with a career-best 24 points. Ingle caught absolute fire quickly after the break, netting 15 points during a sizzling 3:50 stretch to begin the second half that sprung Cornell ahead 46-31.
Fifth-year Jordan Magnani tossed in 20 points with four 3-point goals and an 8-of-10 touch from the foul line. He continued his ascent on the program’s all-time scoring chart, passing Reggie Greenwood (2010-14) for fourth place with 1,453 points.
Logan Sharp grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, his fourth double-digit effort of the season. Logan Christensen added five points and six boards. Jayden Meeker had eight rebounds and five assists.
The Rams were feeling it from long range, sinking a season-best 16 3-pointers on 33 attempts. They shot 6-of-26 from inside the arc.
Cornell held Knox (2-12 overall, 0-5 MWC) to its second-lowest scoring output of the campaign. The Rams allowed only five made field goals on 22 attempts after intermission.