Cornell men’s basketball sweeps Dartmouth and Harvard to maintain second place in Ivy League race

Cornell men’s basketball has been known for its offensive prowess over the last several seasons. But it added strong defensive efforts on Friday and Saturday night to defeat Dartmouth and Harvard at Newman Arena.

The Cornell (13-6, 5-1 Ivy) sweep left Jon Jaques’ squad in sole possession of second place in the Ivy League standings, one week before a crucial home game against first-place Yale.

Cornell 76, Dartmouth 64

Cornell never trailed in the opening half, but Dartmouth (8-10, 2-3) kept within striking distance until the last several minutes.

After senior guard Ryan Cornish hit a triple from the left elbow to get the Big Green within two, 24-22, at the 6:30 mark, the Big Red made its move.

Junior forward AK Okereke immediately responded with a driving layup, followed by a baby hook from senior forward Guy Ragland, Jr. and another layup from Okereke to make it a 30-22 contest.

Following almost three minutes of misses from both teams, first-year guard Anthony Nimani drove from the midcourt line for a fastbreak layup to extend the lead to 10.

Junior forward Brandon Mitchell-Day converted two free throws for the visitors to end the 8-0 run, but Cornell finished the first half scoring with senior guard Nazir Williams sinking a fadeaway three-pointer from the left baseline as the shot clock hit zero on the next possession.

While the Big Red used six made three-pointers to help open up a 35-24 lead at the break, the defense was key.

Over the opening 20 minutes, Cornell limited Dartmouth, a team that thrives on beating teams from the three-point line, to a 2-for-13 (15%) effort. The Red also used a +17% advantage on the glass to take 10 more shots and total seven more second-chance points than the Green.

A personal 5-0 run by Dartmouth senior guard Romeo Myrthil cut the deficit to six early in the second half, but Cornell recovered and built the lead back to 12, 43-31, just under the 15-minute mark.

Up eight, 47-39, around the midpoint of the second half, Ragland hit a three-ball from the top of the arc, junior guard Adam Hinton sank a triple from the right baseline and Williams hit a fadeaway layup from the right side to put Cornell up 55-40.

Down 14 with under six minutes to go in regulation, Dartmouth went on an 8-2 run, featuring three-pointers from Myrthil and Cornish, as well as a Mitchell-Day tip-in off a missed free throw, to make it a 64-56 contest.

Another fadeaway jumper from Williams and an old-fashioned three-pointer off a driving layup by Okereke upped Cornell’s lead to 69-57 and neutralized the Big Green’s last threat.

While the teams were fairly even inside the arc and at the free-throw line for the night, with Cornell shooting 51% (18-for-35) and 77% (10-for-13), respectively, and Dartmouth hitting 50% (16-for-32) and 78% (14-for-18), the Big Red’s control of the three-point line proved to be the biggest difference.

Cornell made 35% (10-for-29) of its attempts and held its opponents to only 21% (6-for-28). 

Okereke led the way for Cornell with team highs of 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks, while Williams finished with 14 points and junior guard Cooper Noard had 12 points and a team-high three triples.

For the defeated Big Green, Cornish ended with a game-high 28 points and six rebounds, and Myrthil totaled 12 points and a team-high eight boards.

Cornell 75, Harvard 60

Despite making the lengthy bus trip to Ithaca from New York City, Harvard (7-12, 2-4) had enough energy to make six of its first seven shots, including four of five from three, to jump out to a quick 16-4 lead over Cornell.

The run-and-gun Big Red, which allowed the Crimson to dictate a more methodical tempo, responded with a 10-2 run, with Okereke nabbing eight of those points from the field and free throw line.

Harvard was still up four, 24-20, when junior guard Chandler Pigge made a fastbreak layup and a pair of first year guards, Robert Hinton and Austin Hunt, each hit a triple around a long-range Cornell jumper to make it a 32-23 contest.

Similar to closing out Friday’s first half on an 11-2 run, the Big Red scored the last seven points of the opening frame to cut the deficit to two, 32-30, and grabbed the momentum as the teams headed to the locker rooms.

While Cornell struggled mightily from beyond the arc, hitting only 18% (2-for-11) of its attempts (18%), and the smaller Harvard lineup held a 9% advantage on the boards, the Big Red stayed afloat with a 71% (10-for-14) effort from two-point range and its ability to limit Harvard to 30% (7-for-23) shooting over the last 15:30.

Cornell stormed out of the gate quickly in the second half, using a Ragland layup and Noard three-pointer to take its first lead of the night at 35-32.

By the time junior guard Adam Hinton hit a layup at the 15:39 mark, the Big Red finished a 22-2 run over an 8:18 stretch between the two halves to make it a 45-34 game.

Harvard first-year guard Austin Hunt came off the bench to score the next five points to cut Cornell’s lead to six, but another triple from Noard and layup from Ragland, as well as a pair of free throws from Okereke, gave the hosts a 52-39 advantage.

The Crimson twice reduced the deficit to 10 before the midway point of the second half, but that would be as close as they would get.

The Big Red eventually stretched its lead to twenty before emptying its bench in the last two minutes.

In the decisive second half, Cornell scored 45 points by improving upon its already strong two-point shooting, making 80% (12-for-15) of its attempts, while upping its three-point and free throw efforts to 44% (4-for-9) and 100% (9-for-9), respectively.

Defensively, the Big Red held Harvard to 28 points by limiting the Crimson to 44% from the inside and 29% from outside, while dominating the glass with a 23% advantage.

Ragland was the star of Saturday’s game for Cornell, notching 14 points, a game-high six assists, three rebounds and two steals. Even though he was limited to 20 minutes due to foul trouble, Okereke still ended up with a game-best 15 points.

As a reflection of the Big Red’s deep roster, Williams had 11 points and six rebounds, sophomore guard Jake Fiegen scored 10 points and Noard added eight points and six boards.

For Harvard, Pigge and sophomore forward Thomas Batties III each finished with 14 points, but Batties only had four points over the last thirty minutes of the contest. Hinton, the Crimson’s star rookie guard and brother of Cornell’s Adam, ended up with eight points, but the Big Red held him to only one point in the second half and no baskets over the game’s final 25 minutes.

1 thought on “Cornell men’s basketball sweeps Dartmouth and Harvard to maintain second place in Ivy League race”

  1. Great weekend for the Big Red Machine. Pete Rose and Joe Morgan are smiling from above. A great team effort in both games. Great to see the Hinton brothers going at it on opposing teams. AK Okereke’s shooting percentage in both games was off the charts-definitely making a case for himself for first team Ivy-and such a nice and humble person. Guy Ragland Jr. ws also amazing.And Cooper Noard has regained his great 3 point shooting touch. Also loved the contribution from freshman Anthony Nimani. Lets hope the Big Red fans pack the arena for the big game Saturday vs. Yale.

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