MOUNT VERNON – Cornell's men's basketball program honored a successful class of 11 seniors beforehand and then dominated Knox on the court with a 98-68 Midwest Conference victory inside the Small Athletic and Wellness Center.
 
The decisive home win turned out to be the final game this season for the Rams (15-10 overall, 9-7 MWC), who were nosed out for the fourth and final spot in next week's MWC Tournament.
 
Cornell finished tied for fifth place with Ripon. Lake Forest (10-6 MWC) secured the No. 4 seed with an 82-77 comeback at Beloit, rallying from 16 points down in the second half.
 
The starting senior trio of Jayden Meeker, Zach Ingle and Dylan Hurley all delivered notable performances in their final collegiate games.
 
Meeker posted 19 points, nine rebounds and six assists in his 100th game with the Rams. The 6-foot-4 guard became the first player in program history to finish in Cornell's career Top 10 in points (1,313), rebounds (516), assists (244), steals (124) and blocked shots (59).
 
Ingle, playing in his 103rd contest, scored a game-high 21 points to boost his impressive career total to 1,257. The sharpshooter hit four 3-pointers and finished No. 3 on Cornell's all-time list with 222.
 
Hurley handed out 12 assists and finished with an MWC-best 139, the third-highest season total ever by a Ram.
 
Junior Caleb Leslie had the hot hand early, scoring 17 of his 20 points in the first half as the Rams raced to a 47-32 lead at intermission. Leslie went 5-of-9 from 3-point land for the game.
 
Cornell had 14 players score in the wire-to-wire victory. The Rams connected for a season-best 14 3-point goals and shot 50.8 percent from the field.