In a game of runs with 12 lead changes, the Columbia men’s basketball team flipped a nine-point deficit midway through the second half into a nine-point advantage entering crunch time against Cornell and cruised to a 104-99 victory in both teams’ Ivy League opener Monday.
Cornell (7-7, 0-1) dropped its first home game in nine years to Columbia (12-3, 1-0), a win for Columbia’s Kevin Hovde in his league head coaching debut.
If you had said before the game that Cornell would go toe to toe on the glass with Columbia, an excellent rebounding team, and that the Cornell offense would generate nearly twice as many fastbreak points while shooting an efficient 45% from the perimeter, Big Red fans would have been delighted.
Indeed, many aspects of this game followed a winning formula for Cornell:
- Six double-figure scorers led by Cooper Noard with 23 points and Jake Fiegen with 17.
- An outstanding 28-12 assist-to-turnover ratio.
- Complementary scoring from the frontcourt, notably Josh Baldwin and Ian Imegwu.
The glaring problem for Cornell was that when Columbia wasn’t turning over the ball as it did 10 times in the first half, the Big Red defense was unable to deny ball penetration at the point of attack, leading to career nights for Columbia guard Hampton Sanders off the bench and Columbia’s leading scorer Kenny Noland.
The Cornell frontcourt also struggled to stay in front of Blair Thompson, sending him to the free throw line 12 times, where Thompson hit all 12 shots.
The loss to Columbia marked the fifth time in the past six games against Division I opponents in which the Cornell defense allowed 90 points or more.
Cornell actually played solid defense in spurts against Columbia. Early in the second half, DJ Nix contributed to an 11-0 Cornell run with a steal and a pair of blocks. The Red was getting to most of the loose balls as it built a lead through the first 10 minutes of the second half. Cornell’s Kaspar Sepp sent Columbia’s Mason Ritter to the bench with four fouls, and the home team seemed to have momentum on its side.
Three straight turnovers from Noard, Adam Hinton and Josh Baldwin helped turn the tide in Columbia’s favor. And after Thompson’s game-tying three, a pair of Jacob Beccles turnovers helped put Columbia firmly in the driver’s seat.
In the closing sequence, back-to-back threes from Fiegen and Imegwu reduced a 10-point margin down to four. Following a Columbia timeout, however, Thompson hit another three, which was lightly contested by Adam Hinton.
A bad pass by Baldwin on the next possession sealed Cornell’s fate.
better late than never. glad to see a story about the beginning of columbia’s resurrection in the ivies. very impressed by both teams grit. cornell did a fine job early in second half of sending multiple rebounders into the paint to neutralize lions’ size advantage. that helped fashion the big red’s 9 point edge. columbia rose to the challenge, picked up their own defense, and with kenny noland draining a couple of treys and thompson regularly returning to the free throw line dominated the last ten minutes of play. bring on the harvards!