ITHACA, N.Y. – Prior to the Big Red's game against South Dakota on Friday night at Newman Arena, Cornell unveiled its Ivy League championship banner in front of a crowd of more than 3,700 fans. Almost immediately, head coach Steve Donahue's team turned the page and grinded out a 79-69 victory over the Coyotes to open the 2008-09 campaign with a victory.
Junior
Ryan Wittman matched career-highs with 25 points and five assists and added seven rebounds, a block and a steal in 39 minutes of action to lead the Big Red, while classmate
Geoff Reeves did his part with a career-best 21 points to hold off a pesky South Dakota squad playing its first game as a provisional Division I team. Reeves hit 5-of-8 3-pointers to surpass his previous high of 16 points against Harvard as a freshman. Another junior,
Alex Tyler, had eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while senior
Jeff Foote posted six points, five rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots in his first career start.
Despite missing Ivy League Player of the Year
Louis Dale and second-team All-Ivy guard
Adam Gore to injuries, Cornell shot 48 percent from the floor and 44 percent from 3-point range, outrebounded South Dakota 35-31, had a 2:1 assist-turnover ratio (18 assists, nine turnovers) and limited the Coyotes to an 8-of-23 effort from beyond the new 3-point line (35 percent).
South Dakota (0-1) was led by Louie Krogman with 20 impressive points to go along with five rebounds and three assists, while Dylan Grimsley fell one rebound shy of a double-double with 18 points and nine boards. South Dakota's star point guard Jesse Becker was injured during pregame warmups and was limited to eight minutes of playing time and an 0-of-2 effort from the floor. Tyler Cain added 17 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.
Cornell seemed to be in control throughout the game, but could never put away the feisty Coyotes, playing its first Division I game. South Dakota took its first and only lead when Grimsley put home a layup just 18 seconds into the contest, but it was answered by a Wittman 3-pointer and the Big Red would never again trail. After a Krogman made it an 11-7 game with 14 minutes to play, the Big Red scored six quick points thanks to some nifty passing by Wittman, assisting on consecutive baskets by Reeves,
Brian Kreefer and Tyler in the span of 1:19 to push the lead to 10 at 17-7. USD got back within five at 20-15 on another deep trey by Krogman, but Cornell got right back out in front of play. A 7-0 run in just over a minute of action culminating with a Wittman steal and finish on the break gave the home team a 40-27 edge with just over two minutes to play.
Again, the visitors would not go quietly, as Krogman continued the theme with another deep 3-pointer to quiet the boisterous crowd, but the Big Red was able to stem the tide and went into the break with a 42-30 edge. Wittman had 15 point for Cornell, while Krogman notched 13 for the Coyotes as the duo matched each other shot for shot. Reeves (10) and Tyler (8) were the difference on the scoreboard.
South Dakota did a nice job controlling tempo in the second half and wouldn't led the Big Red run away despite going up by as many as 14 points. USD scored the first seven points of the half, to get back within 42-37 with 18:13 to play, but Cornel lran off an 8-0 run of its own to quickly go back up 13. The run was sparked off the bench by freshman
Chris Wroblewski who hit a running floater in the lane, found Reeves for a trey, drew a charge and then drew a foul on the offensive end for two free throws in the matter of two minutes. Seven times in the final 12 minutes USD cut the lead to single digits, and each time the Big Red responded by pushing the lead back past 10. The last charge came with just under two minutes to play when Krogman found Steve Smith for a layup underneath to make it 73-67, but Wittman found Foote underneath for a layup, then after Krogman missed a 3-pointer, Wittman rebounded and was fouled. The 6-6 forward buried both charity shots, then hit two more just four seconds later to put the game away.
The Big Red returns to action on Monday, Sept. 17 at 9:30 p.m. when it meets St. John's of the Big East in the first round of the NIT Preseason Tip-Off at Boston College's Conte Forum. The Red Storm was a 73-63 victor at home over Long Island in its 2008-09 season opener on Friday night.
