MOUNT VERNON, Iowa - In a game they never trailed, and led by as much as 13 points, the Ripon men's basketball team was able to hold a late Cornell rally, defeating the Rams 64-61 to earn a hard-fought victory. The Red Hawks forced 21 turnovers, which they converted into 23 points, while turning the ball over just 13 times.

The game was close during the first several minutes, until Ripon scored 11 consecutive points to take a 13-point lead with eight and a half minutes before halftime. That was followed up by a scoring drought in which the Red Hawks scored just two points the rest of the half, allowing Cornell to cut the lead to three at the break.

That lead disintegrated altogether in the second half when Brad Hund connected on a 3-pointer on Cornell's first possession to tie the score at 25. After the two teams traded baskets a few times, Brendan McCoy and Hayden Hoerdemann connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to give Ripon some breathing room again. Cornell battled back to tie the score again with nine and a half minutes remaining, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the night. A Ty Sabin basket gave Ripon an eight point advantage with four and a half minutes left, but Cornell went on an 9-4 run to cut the lead to three with under a minute to play. That set the Rams up for a chance to tie the game, but they couldn't convert a 3-pointer with five seconds remaining, sealing their fate.

Sabin led all scorers with 33 points, with 20 of those coming in the second half. He was 13-for-21 from the field, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, while making all four of his free throws, as he fell one point shy of his career-high. Hoerdemann added a career-high seven points off the bench, while Justin Leistikow also scored seven, to go along with a team-best six rebounds.,

Cornell was led by Hund's 17 points, on 7-of-8 shooting, and nine rebounds. Nick Bobb also made seven of his eight shots, scoring 15 points, in addition to his three blocked shots. Corey Davis added 10 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and four steals, as he narrowly missed a triple-double.

Ripon will try to carry this momentum into their next game, Tuesday at Beloit College. That game will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Beloit, Wis. and can be seen live at,http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.