MOUNT VERNON – Cornell's men's basketball program crowned a new all-time scoring king in Cooper Kabela Thursday night before the home fans inside the Small Sport Center.
 
Kabela tossed in a season-best 31 points, breaking Cornell's career record on a bucket in the paint with 2:47 remaining in an 82-68 Midwest Conference setback to Grinnell.
 
Kabela added one more field goal on the ensuing possession, raising his career points total to 1,564. The fifth-year senior forward broke the all-time scoring mark held by sharp-shooter Griffin LaDew, who tallied 1,561 points from 2005-09.
 
Despite Kabela's milestone moment, the Rams (16-8 overall, 11-4 MWC) had their conference title hopes dampened with one game left in the regular season – Saturday at home against Beloit (6-18 overall, 3-12 MWC).
 
The Rams are one game back in the loss column to first-place Ripon (11-3 MWC), which closes out against Monmouth (2-12 MWC) and Knox (4-10 MWC). Grinnell, a winner of 10 straight games, stands percentage points behind Cornell in third place at 10-4 in league play.
 
Kabela set the new scoring standard in his 109th game, also a Cornell record for most played. The 6-foot-5 fifth-year lefty blossomed into the school's most prolific scorer after averaging a modest 3.8 points in 25 games as a freshman.
 
Kabela hiked his scoring averages to 17.7 points as a sophomore, 18.3 as a junior and 17.9 last season. He's scoring at a 15.6 points-per-game clip this season.
 
Kabela came within two points of his single-game career high Thursday night. He shot 13-of-22 from the field and hit 5-of-7 free throws.   
 
Cornell held the high-scoring Pioneers 23 points below their season average and trailed just 39-38 at halftime. An open floor dunk by Marcus Quirk brought the Rams within 49-46 with 12:58 left to play.
 
Grinnell took control with a 15-5 spurt over the next two minutes and played with a double-digit lead the rest of the way. The Rams shot 36.7 percent in the second half.
 
Quirk finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Jordan Magnani played a solid floor game against Grinnell's full-court press, netting nine points and logging 37 minutes. Logan Sharp grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Kabela had seven boards, Logan Christensen six.