MOUNT VERNON – Cornell's men's basketball team rallied from 15 points down over the final 12 minutes and eked out a 79-77 Midwest Conference victory over Lake Forest Saturday inside the Small Athletic and Wellness Center.
 
The big comeback capped a strong 2-0 opening week in MWC play for the Rams, who climbed to 6-2 overall. They knocked off defending MWC champion Illinois College on the road Wednesday night.
 
Cornell turned the tide late on a Lake Forest squad (3-5 overall, 0-2 MWC) that shot 58.1 percent in the first half and built its biggest lead at 65-50 with 12:30 left in regulation.
 
The Rams caught fire from long range down the stretch, connecting on six 3-pointers from five different players (Arnav Jain, Keon Talgo, Jaylan Bradberry, Zach Ingle and Caleb Leslie). Ingle's final triple gave Cornell its first lead of the second half at 74-71 with 3:43 remaining.
 
Cornell stretched the margin to 78-73 on a Jayden Meeker layup and then Dylan Hurley sealed the win with one free throw that made it 79-75 with four seconds left.
 
Hurley once again stuffed the stat sheet with 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Ingle scored a team-high 19 points, followed by Meeker with 14 and Bradberry with eight.
 
The Rams limited Lake Forest to 30 second-half points on 27.8-percent shooting. The teams combined for only 13 turnovers in the game.    
 
Coming up – The Rams play host to in-state rival Grinnell (7-2 overall, 2-0 MWC) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.