MOUNT VERNON, Iowa — The Lawrence University men’s basketball team took Cornell College to the limit Saturday, but the Rams held on for an 82-73 Midwest Conference victory at the Small Center.
Cornell was up by four points with three minutes remaining, and the Rams connected on a pair of key 3-pointers to pull away.
Landon Key posted a double-double for the Vikings with 16 points and 12 rebounds and also added five assists. Nicholas Gouriotis led Lawrence (4-12, 2-5 MWC) with 19 points as he went 7-for-9 from the floor, including 5-for-7 from beyond the arc.
Nathan Valentine added 13 points and two assists for the Vikings. Lawrence’s Hogan Demovsky had 11 points and four rebounds, and Casey Schoenecker had 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
Jayden Meeker paced Cornell (11-5, 5-2) and all scorers with 25 points.
Lawrence led 58-57 after Demovsky’s layup with eight minutes left before Cornell pushed its lead to six at 69-63. Key answered with a layup for the Vikings to trim the lead to 69-65 with 3:16 remaining.
Caleb Leslie countered with a 3-pointer for Cornell, and after a Lawrence miss, Leslie hit another triple for a 75-65 edge.
Lawrence couldn’t get any closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Women’s basketball
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team held off a Cornell College rally Saturday for a 61-57 Midwest Conference victory at the Small Center.
Lawrence led by as many as 12 points early in the fourth quarter before Cornell rallied to take a one-point lead with 1:16 left. Lawrence then scored the final five points to grab the victory.
Charlotte Brennan led the way for the Vikings with 13 points, and she added three steals and three assists. Mallory Meyer added 11 points and seven rebounds for Lawrence (12-4, 6-1 MWC). Sophie Morey and Maggie Culver had 10 points apiece for the Vikings. Morey had a game-high eight rebounds to go with two assists and two steals, and Culver had seven rebounds and a pair of steals.
Reagan Wells and Tenley Cavanagh paced Cornell (10-5, 6-1) with 12 points apiece.
Cornell led 24-23 at the break, but the Vikings grabbed the momentum with a big third quarter. Lawrence scored the first 10 points of the second half, capped by Brennan’s 3-pointer, to take a 33-24 lead.
Lawrence led by as many as 11 points in the quarter, and Culver’s layup at the buzzer gave the Vikings a 47-37 lead heading to the fourth.
Two free throws from Morey to start the fourth gave Lawrence its biggest lead at 49-37, but the Rams rallied. Cornell went on a 13-2 run, capped by Heidi Jorgensen’s 3-pointer with 1:16 left, to take a 57-56 lead.
Brennan answered for the Vikings with a driving layup to give Lawrence a 58-57 lead with 54 seconds remaining. Wells then missed a 3-pointer, and Brennan grabbed the rebound for the Vikings.
The Rams were forced to foul and put Brennan on the line with 23 seconds left, and she converted both for a 60-57 lead. Wells then missed a shot in the paint, and Culver corralled the rebound for Lawrence.
Meyer was fouled with four seconds left and missed both free throws. However, she came up with the offensive rebound and made one free throw with two seconds left to seal the victory.
Lawrence is now in a three-way tie for first place in the league with Cornell and Ripon at 6-1.
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