MOUNT VERNON – Cornell's men roll into the postseason playing their best basketball in quest of a second consecutive Midwest Conference Tournament title this weekend.
 
Coach Dave Schlabaugh's No. 2 seed Rams (14-11), winners of 10 of their last 11 games, square off with No. 3 Monmouth (14-11) in Friday's 7 p.m. semifinal at Sherman Gymnasium in Jacksonville, Ill.
 
Top-seeded host Illinois College (23-2) faces No. 4 Ripon (14-11) in Friday's first semifinal at 5 p.m.
 
The semifinal winners play in Saturday's 3 p.m. championship for an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament March 3-4.
 
Fans can follow live action of all three tournament games.
 
The defending MWC Tournament champions, Cornell is seeking its third win over Monmouth in six weeks. The Rams prevailed by tight scores of 50-47 (Jan. 17) and 80-75 (Feb. 14) in the regular season.
 
The Rams finished second in MWC play at 12-4, the same place and record they took into last year's tournament. Cornell beat Ripon in double overtime in a 2022 championship thriller that propelled the Rams to the NCAAs for the first time since 2009.  
 
Cornell also won the MWC Tournament in 1994. The Rams return to the tournament field for the fourth time in seven years.
 
The Rams are 10-1 since dropping a one-point overtime decision to Lake Forest on Jan. 7. During that stretch, Cornell handed regular-season champion Illinois College its only loss in league play (64-56 on Jan. 25).
 
Cornell boasts three of the MWC's top eight scorers in fifth-year Jordan Magnani (17.3 ppg) and sophomores Zach Ingle (15.0 ppg) and Jayden Meeker (13.5 ppg). Magnani ranks second in assists (3.4 apg), Meeker second in blocked shots (1.3 bpg) and Ingle third in made 3-point goals (58).
 
Senior big man Logan Sharp averages a team-high 6.4 rebounds and shoots 61.4 percent from the field. The Rams are the league's top free-throw shooting team at 71.1 percent.
 
Monmouth is led by Jordan Metcalf's 14.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. The Fighting Scots' last MWC Tournament title came in 2018.
 
Illinois College is after its first tournament championship since 2003. Ripon is back in the field for the ninth time in 11 years, winning its last title in 2020.