MOUNT VERNON – Cornell's men's basketball team holds the longest current winning streak in the Midwest Conference at six games.

Coach Chad Murray's Rams carry that momentum into this weekend's MWC Tournament, hosted by St. Norbert at UW-Green Bay's Kress Events Center in Green Bay, Wis.

Cornell (12-11 overall, 11-7 MWC) is the No. 3 seed and faces No. 2 Ripon (18-5, 15-3) in a semifinal at 5 p.m. Friday. Top-seeded St. Norbert (19-4, 16-2) meets No. 4 Lake Forest (13-10, 11-7) in the second semifinal at 7 p.m.

The championship game is 3 p.m. Saturday, with the winner receiving the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Rams are back in the postseason for the first time since 2009-10, when they were members of the Iowa Conference. The last time Cornell played in the MWC Tournament was 1993-94, claiming both regular-season and tournament titles that season.

Cornell gets its third crack at Ripon and the NCAA Division III scoring leader in Ty Sabin, who averages 29.3 points per game. The Red Hawks beat the Rams, 80-73, in early December in Mount Vernon, and took a 78-66 home win last month.

Ripon returns to the tournament for the fifth consecutive year. The Red Hawks last claimed the MWC tourney crown in 2002.

On the other half of the bracket, 14th-ranked St. Norbert owns an impressive 50-game home winning streak against MWC foes. On Saturday, the Green Knights became the first MWC team to win five straight regular-season championships since Carleton captured six in a row (1927-33).

Lake Forest qualified for the second straight year. The Foresters are seeking their first-ever NCAA berth.

The Rams swept Lake Forest in the regular season (65-63 and 66-63), while dropping both games with St. Norbert (66-58 and 67-57).    

Cornell features three of the MWC's top eight scorers in Jon Anderson (JR/Mexico, Mo.) (16.7 ppg), Corey Davis (JR/Glendale Heights, Ill.) (15.7 ppg) and Grant Anderson (SR/Homewood, Ill.) (15.4 ppg). Davis, the program record holder for assists in a season (170), ranks sixth nationally in that department at 7.4 per game.

Jon Anderson stands No. 2 in Division III in field goal percentage (65.8). Grant Anderson is among the MWC leaders in 3-point shooting with 50 made.

Cornell tournament history – The Rams qualified for the IIAC Tournament seven times from 2001-10, highlighted by a tourney title and NCAA berth in 2008-09.

Cornell's lone MWC Tournament championship was in 1994. The Rams have gone to nationals six times as a member of the MWC (1994, 1976, 1970, 1963, 1961 and 1960 – fourth place).