ITHACA, N.Y. -- For 27 minutes, Cornell had Newman Arena buzzing with excitement, trailing by just one point. Four minutes later the Yellow Jackets were finishing off a 14-2 run that essentially ended the Big Red's hopes as Tech remained unbeaten on the season with a 90-69 victory in front of a sold-out, nationally-televised audience in Ithaca.
Jarrett Jack led five Yellow Jackets in double figures with 21 points and added eight assists, six rebounds and four steals. Marvin Lewis added 18 points, while B.J. Elder and Luke Schenscher poured in 15 points apiece. Elder recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds. Ism'ail Muhammad had 12 points in the win for Tech, which improved to 3-0.
Senior Ka'Ron Barnes led the Big Red with 21 points and six assists, while Cody Toppert added 16 points, Eric Taylor netted 14 and Gabe Stephenson poured in 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his third career double-double. Sophomore Lenny Collins had nine rebounds for Cornell.
Georgia Tech limited Cornell to 39 percent shooting, including 30 percent after the break, and forced 21 turnovers to ruin the Big Red's season and home opener. The Yellow Jackets also held a 44-37 edge on the boards in a physical game. A sellout crowd of 4,762 were present for the game, which was televised nationally on College Sports Television (CSTV).
The Big Red came out firing in the first half and got out to a 21-13 edge less than eight mintues in on a fastbreak layup by sophomore David Lisle. Toppert led the charge by hitting all three of his shots, including a pair of 3-pointers. Cornell held the lead throughout the first half before Tech went on a run to regain the leads with 6:28 left. While the Big Red stayed in the game throughout the first half, turnovers plagued Cornell, and the more athletic Georgia Tech players converted those miscues into points.
The Big Red ended the half trailing by four at 42-38 after Lewis hit a runner in the lane with 19 seconds remaining before halftime. Lewis turned out to be the difference iun the first half, scoring 11 points and dishing off five assists with three steals in 16 solid first half minutes. Schenscher also gave Tech the inside presence it had been lacking, scoring nine points, showing good touch around the basket at 7-1.
It was the Yellow Jacket defense that proved to be the difference in the second half and Cornell's shooting dropped off, hitting on just 1-of-12 treys after halftime. They hit on 7-of-13 before the half.
While the Yellow Jackets extended the Big Red throughout, Cornell took plenty of positives from the loss, with Stephenson tallying his first double-double in more than a season and Taylor playing a strong 34 minutes. He added seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks against the taller Tech frontcourt, hitting on 6-of-8 field goal attempts. Toppert also played a solid floor game, hitting on 6-of-14 field goals, including 4-of-9 from beyond the arc to give him 103 for his career. He also tallied ofur rebounds.
Cornell will be back in action on Tuesday, Nov. 25 when it meets Colgate at 7 p.m. in Newman Arena.
