Junior Paul Nordlund led the way for the Pioneers with 20 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Senior Trey Raney netted 14 points, while first-year player Brock Martinez added 13 points and three rebounds. First-year point guard Lance Little chipped in with 11 points and five assists, while senior guard Matt Brown tallied 11 points, including three three-pointers.
Cornell’s Dan McClanahan set a new school-record with 51 points on 21 of 27 shooting. The Rams shot a blazing 72.6 percent (53-73) from the floor, while Grinnell was limited to 44.4 percent, including 21.2 percent (11-52) from three-point territory.
“I thought our guys gave a real solid effort tonight,” Grinnell assistant coach Emil Malinowski said. “We showed a lot of improvement on the offensive end, and our defense was better as well.”