Magnani, Cornell outlast Iowa Wesleyan

It was an intersting dynamic at Ruble Arena on Wednesday night, as the hometown Iowa Wesleyan Tigers took on Cornell College in non-conference action. Cornell started 2018 Mt. Pleasant graduate Jordan Magnani, who led the Rams to a 76-63 victory.

The Rams got out to an early lead in the first half and held on to it for the majority of the first 20 minutes. Magnani scored 11 points in the first 15 minutes, and led Cornell to a 34-24 lead with 4:53 left in the half.

The one thing keeping IW in the game was Avree Clark shooting the ball from outside. He had four three-pointers in the first half. The rest of the team began to score in the last four minutes, kicked off by a three-pointer by Jake Neubauer that cut the lead back to seven points.

Neubauer's three ignited IW to a 13-0 run. The Tigers bullied the Rams inside to cut the lead to three points, at 34-31. Austin Banks hit a tying three-pointer and was fouled, which led to a go-ahead free throw on a four-point play. Camron Mack hit a jump shot and the Tigers led 37-34.

Cornell would cut the Tigers' lead back to one point, at 37-36 on a Cooper Kabela layup with 28 seconds left, but IW still held a one-point lead at the half.

'Honestly I don't know how, other than making some shots, that we had the lead at halftime,” said IW head coach Alex Huisman. 'We said at halftime that we didn't play well but that we should feel good, and that we're OK. Let's fix a couple things, find that energy and find that effort, and take control of this half. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do that.”

Cornell caught fire right off the bat in the second half. They took the lead early in the half and eventually took the lead to double digits. IW went cold through the majority of the second half, and the Rams were able to run away with the win.

'We just didn't have it tonight,” Huisman said after the game. 'We didn't have our energy, and defensively we were just kind of out there. Offensively, their trapping kind of threw us off to start. We made some shots, which always helps (but) in the second half, those shots didn't fall. It makes it difficult to win a basketball game when you're not scoring the ball.”

Clark finished the game with 16 points to lead the Tigers. Jarryd Fernandez finished the game with 14 points, and Austin Rebel had 14. Banks had eight points in the loss. Neubauer scored six. Mach had five, and Joshua Cole finished with two.

Magnani filled the stat sheet for Cornell, leading the Rams with 14 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals. The true freshman says he was extra excited to play in Mt. Pleasant again, but that he wanted to treat it like any other game.

'It's just going out and playing another basketball game,” he said. 'This time I had a little more familiar fans supporting me, so I just fed off it a little more.”

Magnani, who has scored as much as 19 points in a game this season, says he feels like he fits in well with the Cornell system.

'I think I do,” he says. 'Defensively and rebounding and everything, I fit right in. Nothing has really been a problem so far.”

IW fell to 2-7 with the loss. They'll try to improve on their 0-3 SLIAC start with a conference road game at Principia on Saturday, Dec. 15.