No. 11 Men’s Basketball upsets No. 8 Robert Morris

Box Score

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – In an early season Top-15 showdown, the No. 11 Cornerstone Men's Basketball team used a strong first half to open a 14-point lead in route to a 77-53 win over No. 8 Robert Morris (Ill.). The Golden Eagles improve to 3-0 on the young season and will have a hard task ahead of them on Saturday when they face No. 1 ranked and defending national champions Indiana Wesleyan. Tip-off at Aquinas College is set for Noon.

Game Flow
Cornerstone jumped out to a quick 11-3 lead just 4:13 into the contest forcing the Eagles into an early timeout but then their foes from the CCAC, who appeared in last year's NAIA DII Fab Four, rallied to score 13 of the next 18 points to knot the score up at 16-16.

Over the next 10 minutes of game clock, it was all Cornerstone as head coach Kim Elders and his team used a 20-5 run including two triples from Michael McLaughlin (SO/Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Travis Wells (JR/Eaton Rapids, Mich.) as well as a pair of three-point plays from the same two players. CU led by 14 at the break and the margin was never lower than that the remainder of the game. CU held its largest lead at the buzzer of 24.

Say What?
"Robert Morris is a great team. They are going to win a lot of games down the road but we really came together and played well tonight. It was an overall great team win and now we get ready for No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan tomorrow" – Senior captain Ty Mason (SR/Comstock Park, Mich.)

By the Numbers

44-35 – Cornerstone held a rebounding lead for the third straight contest this season

10 – Rebounds by the 5-9 guard Michael McLaughlin – second on the team to Ben Lanning (JR/Grandville, Mich.)'s 11

8/10 – Field goals made out of field goals attempted by freshman Kyle Steigenga (FR/Holland, Mich.) – he is now 22-24 in his last two games

11/12 – Free-throws by the Golden Eagles – After making just 59% in the season opener, CU has posted 79% and 92% the last two

14 – Points by Cory Cox (SO/Flushing, Mich.) off the bench as he was part of a reserve role that outscored the RMU bench 29-8

Up Next
Cornerstone will face their second straight NAIA Top-10 foe as they face No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan on Saturday at Noon. The Wildcats are the defending NAIA DII National Champions.

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