MOUNT VERNON – Cornell's men's basketball team had defending Midwest Conference champion Monmouth on the ropes Saturday, although couldn't protect a double-digit lead down the stretch in a tough 70-67 loss at the Small Athletic and Wellness Center.
 
First-place Monmouth (9-4 overall, 4-0 MWC) rallied from a 17-point deficit with less than 10 minutes remaining and escaped with the road win to remain unbeaten in league play.
 
The young Rams (1-11 overall, 0-3 MWC) controlled most of the contest and built a 59-42 lead on a pair of Wayne Jurica free throws with 9:33 to go. Monmouth charged back with a 24-3 run over the next seven minutes and held on late.
 
Freshman forward Luke Hellige tossed in a collegiate-best 13 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to pace the Rams. His two free throws brought Cornell within 68-67 with 40 seconds left.
 
Monmouth pushed the margin to 70-67 on two free throws from Zay Brown with 12 seconds to go. Jurica's 3-point attempt was off the mark as time expired.
 
Cornell's balanced attack had Keon Talgo score 10 points, Kylen Bonner nine, Noah Williams eight and Jurica seven. Freshman Jude Weaver handed out a career-high seven assists. Cristian Acevedo added seven rebounds.
 
Brown, the reigning MWC Player of the Year, finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Fighting Scots. Cameron Thomas netted 23 points, 17 in the second half.   
 
The teams combined to make 39 free throws, including a 17-of-23 touch by the Rams.
 
Coming up – The Rams travel to play Lawrence (8-4 overall, 1-2 MWC) at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Appleton, Wis.