MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – The celebration has begun.
 
For the first time since 2009, Grinnell College's men's basketball team has been crowned as Midwest Conference regular-season champs with an 88-75 victory at Cornell College Saturday afternoon.
 
The title is the Pioneers' first solo MWC crown since 2007 as Monmouth College, which had been tied with Grinnell, lost a one-point decision at Illinois College Saturday.
 
Additionally, the Pioneers nailed down hosting rights for next weekend's MWC Tourney and will face Illinois College at 5 p.m. Friday at Darby Gymnasium. Monmouth will face Lake Forest College in the other semifinal at 7 p.m.
 
Grinnell tied school records for victories in the MWC and overall with marks of 15-1 and 20-3, respectively. The 15 league wins compiled by the 2018-19 team came in 18 games.
 
Grinnell, which has eight MWC titles in its history, has won 18 of its last 19 with just one loss since mid-November. The Pioneers stretched their winning streak against the Rams to six games.
 
The Pioneers trailed just once Saturday, falling behind 6-5 before going on an 11-2 run to take command. Kingzten Bristol '29 put the visitors ahead to stay with a layup, Gabe Garcia '27 added a free throw and Zach Rosen '26 hit a trey to make it 11-6. After a bucket by Cornell, Nick Lundy '27 scored for the Pioneers and Kai Te Huki '27 drained a trey for a 16-8 cushion.
 
Grinnell cruised out to a 49-38 halftime lead before the hosts clawed back into contention, making it a 71-67 game with 8:12 remaining. But Te Huki responded with a dunk and Rosen cashed in on consecutive 3-pointers to put the Pioneers ahead 79-67 with 6:14 left. Grinnell sailed from there.
 
Rosen continued his impressive season with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including a 6-of-10 performance from 3-point land. Te Huki poured in 11, putting him 10^th in program history with 1,562 points, while Nick Courtney '26 and Garcia added 10 each.
 
Rosen also had six rebounds, Tyler Copes '29 blocked three shots and Courtney came up with five assists and four steals. Courtney has 158 career steals, 12^th-best in GC history.
 
Cornell finished its season at 5-11 in the MWC and 6-19 in all games.