MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – The Grinnell College men's basketball team is turning nail-biting victories into an art.
 
Five days after beating Ripon College by three points, the Pioneers completed a stunning late rally to knock off Cornell College 117-116 Wednesday night.
 
Jacob Ekstrand '18 drained a 3-pointer from the left wing off Julian Marx's '17 assist with under 2 seconds left for the game-winner.
 
Winning seemed a stretch when Cornell sank two free throws with 9 seconds left to take a 116-112 lead. Grinnell quickly worked the ball down the court and Marx converted a layup to bring the Pioneers within two with 5 seconds remaining.
 
Cornell attempted a deep inbounds pass that bounced off the ceiling, giving possession to Grinnell under its own basket to set up Ekstrand's game-winner. By the time the Rams inbounded the ball, there was just one-tenth of a second left.
 
The victory, the fourth in a row over Cornell and 10th in the last 11 meetings, was crucial as Grinnell hunts for a spot in the Midwest Conference Tournament. The Pioneers improved to 7-4 in the league and 10-6 overall while Cornell fell to 4-7 in the MWC and 6-10 overall.
 
Vinny Curta '19 had another huge game for Grinnell, scoring a career-high 40 points with the help of a trio of 3-pointers.
 
Marx added 18 points to push his career total to 1,401, moving him into the No. 14 spot on Grinnell's all-time list. Ekstrand added 14 points and Ky-Sean Johnson '19 had 13. Ekstrand drained four treys and Marx had three. Sean Cullinane '18 contributed nine points, all on 3-pointers.
 
Marx dished out a season-high five assists, Johnson had three steals and Nick Curta '17 blocked two shots. Nathan Balcom '18 tied a career-high with four rebounds.
 
Grinnell built its lead as big as 19 points in the first half when Vinny Curta's 3-pointer made it 36-17 with 7:26 left. However, Cornell rallied and made it a 52-46 game at halftime.
 
Grinnell continued to lead in the second half until Cornell went ahead at the 14:24 mark. It was back and forth after that, with neither team ever leading by more than five points through the exciting finish.
 
The Pioneers will face Lawrence University in a league contest Saturday at Darby Gymnasium. Game time is 3 p.m.