Nathan Solomon

Niagara makes second-half comeback, stuns Cornell

December 17, 2018 by Nathan Solomon

In their first game back after their extended break, the Cornell Big Red took an eight-point lead at Niagara with seven minutes left, led by big man Josh Warren. But the Purple Eagles stormed back and stole the game from the Big Red with a second to go, winning 77-74.

Niagara guard Keleaf Tate hit a wide open fading three-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining when big man Dominic Robb saved the ball from going out of bounds, after Steven Julian swatted the original go-ahead three for one of his five blocks on the day. Niagara improved to 5-4 after previously coming off of wins against Pitt and New Hampshire, and Cornell fell to 4-5 with another game waiting for them in less than 24 hours.

Cornell fades late, falls in upset bid against Syracuse

December 2, 2018 by Nathan Solomon

The hoopla over Saturday’s Cornell-Syracuse tilt being the Battle of the Boeheims gave way to a good basketball game, with the Big Red clinging to a lead with six minutes to play.

But several bad shots and turnovers down the stretch along with a couple of tough shots falling for the lethal Tyus Battle-Frank Howard combo for Syracuse brought the Big Red down, resulting in a 63-55 Syracuse victory.

and because of that Syracuse was able to escape with a 63-55 victory. Cornell dropped back to 4-4 while Syracuse went to 5-2.

Cornell’s stellar defense makes up for poor offense in overtime win at Lafayette

November 29, 2018 by Nathan Solomon

It wasn’t much warmer in the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa. than it was in Ithaca Wednesday, with teams from both towns

shooting percentages not much higher than the temperature, but it wouldn’t matter as Cornell was able to sneak by for a 63-58 victory in overtime. Cornell improved to 4-3, while Lafayette dropped to 2-4. Lafayette and Cornell each shot 36 percent and 37 percent respectively from the field.

Turnovers doom Cornell in upset bid against UConn

November 20, 2018 by Nathan Solomon

Sloppy ball-handling for Cornell led to 19 turnovers and a loss against the UConn Huskies on Tuesday by a score of 91-74. Cornell dropped to 3-3 with the loss, with UConn improving to 4-1.

UConn threw constant pressure and double teams at Matt Morgan whenever it could, but it wouldn’t matter as he was stellar again with 26 points, making 11 shots on just four misses. He drilled four long balls, only missing twice from there. He also had four rebounds and competed well defensively with a steal and two blocks, while altering several other shots. Josh Warren was the only other double digit scorer for the Big Red, posting 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting. Jack Gordon and Jimmy Boeheim had trouble shooting the ball but had four assists and three assists respectively, as they had several drives to the hoop then passing to a player like Jake Kuhn or Josh Warren who would be cutting to the hoop.

Army’s cold shooting fuels Brown’s third win in a row

November 18, 2018 by Nathan Solomon

In the final game of the Brown Bears Tip-Off Classic, the Army Black Knights went ice-cold from the field and Brown benefited, winning, 86-66. Brown improved to 3-2 with the win, and Army dropped to 1-4. Brown won all three games it played in the tournament, beating UMass-Lowell on Friday, 82-74, and Sacred Heart on Saturday, 82-77.

A balanced attack for the Bears saw five scorers in double digits, those being Brandon Anderson who had 16 points (4-of-8), Desmond Cambridge’s 13 (5-of-12), 12 each from Zach Hunsaker (4-of-7) and Tamenang Choh (3-of-7), and Obi Okolie’s 10 points as well (2-of-6). Tamenang Choh hauled in 10 rebounds to complete the double-double, and Joshua Howard was just two points short of a double-double as he also had 10 rebounds. Brown controlled the backboard, outrebounding the Knights, 49-33.

Hot shooting propels Cornell past previously unbeaten NJIT

November 17, 2018 by Nathan Solomon

After suffering cold shooting in their previous two games, the Cornell Big Red came out red hot Saturday, hitting 64 percent of their shots in a win at the previously unbeaten NJIT Highlanders. Cornell improved to 3-2 with the win, while NJIT dropped to 4-1. This win would put the two teams in a share for first in the Central New York Hoops Classic. Colgate could also clinch a first place share at 3-1 in the tournament with a win against Binghamton on Monday.

In no surprise, Matt Morgan led the Big Red with 34 points on 10-of-16 shooting and 6-of-10 from deep. He also had seven rebounds, two assists, and one block in the effort. Jimmy Boeheim had 15 points off of 7-for-11 shooting from the bench, also hauling down six rebounds with two of them being offensive rebounds. Cornell’s three-point specialist Jack Gordon came off of the bench with 10 points, while finally connecting on two three-point shots. Big man Josh Warren had a great game, with eight points on six assists, as he’s often the center of Brian Earl’s Princeton Offense. Steven Julian had his best game of the season, as he had four points off of perfect two for two shooting, eight rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.

Cornell’s shooting woes continue in loss to Delaware

November 16, 2018 by Nathan Solomon

Cornell could not fix its shooting woes from Sunday against Colgate and dropped Thursday’s home contest against the Delaware Blue Hens by a score of 73-56. Cornell fell to 2-2 with the loss, while the Blue Hens improved to 3-1.

Jimmy Boeheim and Matt Morgan both had stellar games, with Boeheim notching 23 points on 7-for-13 shooting off the bench, and Matt Morgan was able to recover from a poor game on Sunday with 21 points on 9-for-12 shooting. He also hauled in five boards and had four assists. The two pitched in a combined 44 points, shooting 16-for-26 (61.5 percent), while the rest of the team combined for just 12 points shooting on a woeful 6-for-31 (19.4 percent). The team shot 6-for-23 for three (26.1 percent), with Morgan and Boeheim connecting on three each. Five of the six threes came in the game’s last 6:12.

Harvard staves off UMass rally in win before trip to Rhode Island

November 16, 2018 by Nathan Solomon

After leading for most of the game, the Harvard Crimson were able to fight off a rally by the UMass Minutemen in Amherst Tuesday, winning by a score of 74-71. Harvard improved to 2-1, while UMass suffered its first loss and fell to 2-1. It was the first win for the Crimson at UMass of the Tommy Amaker era for Harvard.

Chris Lewis would lead the Crimson with 16 points off a strong 8-for-11 from the field. He would also have three blocks on the defensive end but miss some time in the game as he slowly crept his way into foul trouble, finishing with four fouls. Justin Bassey also found himself in foul trouble, picking up three fouls in the game’s first eight and a half minutes. Bassey posted seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Danilo Djuricic contributed 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting, with 10 of those points in the first half.

Cornell goes cold in loss to Colgate

November 12, 2018 by Nathan Solomon

A rough Sunday afternoon for the Matt Morgan-led Cornell Big Red found the Colgate Raiders pulling away in the second half, winning by a score of 73-57 in the Central New York Hoops Classic at Newman Arena. Cornell would fall to 2-1 with this being their first loss, and Colgate would improve to 2-1.

Matt Morgan would finish with 12 points while shooting 4-for-14 overall, including 1-for-9 from deep. However, he was able to haul in 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

Cornell struggled mightily from both the three-point and free throw lines, shooting 4-for-28 (14.3 percent) and 7-for-17 (41.2 percent) from those areas respectively.