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The Cornell Big Red got off to a good start, but things went downhill towards the end of the first half as the Brown Bears picked up their first Ivy League victory of the season, 74-63.
The Big Red (4-12, 1-2 Ivy) led 30-23 with 6:48 left in the first half after Bryan Knapp drilled a three. The Bears (8-8, 1-2) then proceeded to go on an 18-4 run to end the first half and take a 41-36 lead into the locker room.
Cornell used a gritty defensive effort to take down Brown at Newman Arena Friday, 74-63.
“We grinded out the win,” said coach Dayna Smith. “We found a way to make key baskets at key times and get some big stops.”
The Big Red (9-6, 2-1 Ivy) took the lead just 98 seconds into the game and held onto it for good. They held a 38-31 halftime lead over the Bears (6-10, 0-3) behind 23 first-stanza points from senior Samantha Widmann, who was honored before the game for surpassing 1,000 career points against Columbia last time out.
ITHACA, N.Y. – Freshman Shannon Mulroy scored a career-high 27 points off of seven threes as the Big Red prevailed past the Columbia Lions at Newman Arena in overtime, 80-77, avenging their 10-point loss to Columbia last weekend.
“We were just working the ball around and whoever was open was gonna shoot it, and I just happened to be open,” said Mulroy. “Whoever’s open would knock them down.”
“We took care of the ball,” said Big Red coach Dayna Smith. “We mixed up our defenses a little more; we kept people in front of us and didn’t allow as much penetration.”
ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell limited Columbia guards Jack Forrest and Mike Smith to a combined 7-for-32 shooting night as the Big Red took down the Lions, 62-50, at Newman Arena to pick up their first Ivy League win and first Division I win since Nov. 5.
The Big Red (4-11, 1-1 Ivy) were led by a balanced attack on offense while limiting the Lions (6-11, 1-1) to 32% shooting on defense. That was mainly due to Bryan Knapp’s all-around effort for the Big Red. He was tasked with guarding Mike Smith, who scored just 15 points on 5-for-23 shooting.
“We were just forcing him left, [isolating] him as much as we could, just team defense,” said Knapp. “We knew if we could shut him down, that was it. The last five minutes, the gameplan was ‘Bryan, don’t let him get the ball.'”
Columbia built an early lead and avoided a late-game collapse, as the Lions opened the Ivy schedule with a convincing 75-61 victory over Cornell Saturday at Levien Gym.
The Big Red (3-11, 0-1 Ivy) started out strong, shooting 57% by the first media timeout, to take a quick 12-9 lead. Unfortunately for the visitors, the Lions (6-11 overall, 1-0) limited Cornell to 14% shooting over the next 14-plus minutes. The Columbia offense, meanwhile, was clicking on all cylinders, shooting 67% from two, 50% from three and 71% from the free throw line to take a commanding 48-29 halftime lead.
Columbia’s three-point shooting was as cold as the snow-filled campus over the game’s first 35 minutes, but a late surge from downtown lifted the Lions to a 76-66 victory in the conference opener against Cornell.
The Light Blue (10-4, 1-0 Ivy) tried to deny the inside early against the Big Red, one of the nation’s top rebounding and two-point shooting teams. Cornell (7-6, 0-1 Ivy) foiled that plan by taking a 10-7 lead on the boards and hitting three of six shots from beyond the arc. Thanks to a strong 47% shooting effort, Columbia was able to finish the first 10 minutes with the score tied at 20.
ITHACA – The Cornell Men’s Basketball team finally broke its 10-game losing streak with victories over Division III opponents SUNY Purchase and Elmira College.
They took down Purchase last week by a score of 100-68 thanks to 21 points off the bench from Dean Noll and 18 points off the bench from Greg Dolan. The team was actually down by one point at the half, but the Big Red took control in the final 20 minutes.
Against Elmira Monday, the team was phenomenal on defense, allowing just 33 points in a 70-33 victory. Riley Voss led the way with 14 points and Josh Warren added 10.
“Winning is hard,” said coach Brian Earl. “We have to go to some teams that beat up on us a little bit, and that can demoralize you, and some close losses. Just sort of figuring out that you can put all the effort in and actually come out with a win.”
Cornell women’s basketball finished the nonconference portion of its schedule strong Saturday with a 71-43 victory over the visiting ETSU Buccaneers.
The Big Red got off to a rough start as they turned the ball over six times and trailed by three at the end of the first quarter.
“We were not executing on offense, missing shots, and rebounding is our thing and we had five [offensive] boards in the first half and that’s not much, [we] gotta get second chances,” coach Dayna Smith said.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The Cornell Big Red were only able to hang around for a few minutes against No. 20 Penn State (11-2), losing a Sunday matinee by a score of 90-59 to conclude 2019.
“They’re enormous and athletic. At our level, it’s rare,” said head coach Brian Earl about the Nittany Lions (11-2). “I know Yale has that sort of size, and they made a fight out of their game [against Penn State]. For us, we just don’t have the horses to match [Mike] Watkins and [Lamar] Stephens.”
The two senior forwards each had 19 points to lead the Nittany Lions.
There was hope for Brian Earl and Cornell Sunday afternoon, a little gleam that shined through at Chase Family Arena. Sure, Hartford is a middle-of-the-road America East team (see: probably not Yale, Harvard, or Penn), but there the Big Red were, making shots, dominating inside and outside, finally able to remove some of the stench from an eight-game losing streak that had morale not-so-cheery as Christmas approaches.
And then it all fell apart.