The Cornell men’s basketball team used a late first-half run and a dominant effort on the glass to improve to 2-0 in Ivy League play with an 86-76 victory over Penn on Saturday afternoon at the Palestra. The Big Red improved to 10-5 (2-0 Ivy), while the Quakers slipped to 4-11 (0-2 Ivy).
Cornell held a 43-24 edge on the glass and outscored the Quakers 13-0 in second-chance points to control the game once it took the lead with a late first-half run. The Big Red connected on nine consecutive shots as part of a game-changing 17-4 spurt to close the half and send the visitors into the locker room with a 42-31 edge,
Cooper Noard’s 19 points led four Big Red players in double figures, with AK Okereke (15 points, three rebounds, four assists) joining him. Senior Nazir Williams scored 14 points, Jake Fiegen added 12 more and both players chipped in four rebounds. Senior Ryan Kiachian notched six points and a game-high eight rebounds and Jacob Beccles added eight points, five rebounds and a pair of assists in the win. Guy Ragland Jr. scored seven with five boards. The Big Red shot 48 percent from the floor and connected on 9-of-24 shots from beyond the arc and an impressive 17-of-18 free throws. Its .944 free-throw percentage sits as the 15th-best single-game effort in school history.
Ethan Roberts scored a game-high 26 points for Penn, who turned the ball over just eight times in the loss. Sam Brown scored 15, AJ Levine netted 13 and Nick Spinoso scored 12 with seven assists and six boards. Penn shot 48 percent from the floor, and had an 11-2 edge in fastbreak points.
A 17-4 spurt entering halftime put Cornell in the lead 42-31 at the break after a cool start. After shooting 35 percent from the floor past the midpoint of the first half, the Big Red closed strong by making 9-of-10 field goals entering the break. Despite turning it over seven times, the Big Red dominated on the glass (20-10) to earn an 11-0 edge in second-chance points.
Okereke had nine first-half points and Fiegen added eight for the Big Red, while Roberts kept the home team in the game with 16 points. Spinoso registered seven points, five rebounds and five assists to put himself on triple-double watch.
The 11-point lead at the break for the Big Red wasn’t indicative of the first 15 minutes where Penn held a narrow edge throughout, going up as many as six points.
Cornell took control in the opening minutes of the second half extending its lead to 20 (59-39) on a Noard putback for a three-point play. A 7-0 Penn run cut the Big Red lead to 13, but it wasn’t until the final minutes when the game was seemingly out of reach that Penn got within single digits.The win was Cornell’s fifth consecutive away from home.
UP NEXT
• The Big Red will open its Ivy League home slate when it welcomes Brown to Newman Arena for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee on Monday, Jan. 20 at 2 p.m.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• The Big Red leads the all-time series 84-57, though the teams have split the series in eight of the past nine seasons.
• The Bears spoiled Cornell’s chance an an unbeaten home season last March when it spoiled senior day for the Big Red with a 78-74 victory.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].