Box Score Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Senior Ahmad Nivins had 26 points and 16 rebounds to power Saint Joseph's past Cornell 71-67 on Monday evening at the Palestra. The Hawks posted a 22-8 advantage in second chance points that proved to be the difference in the tightly contested matchup. Cornell fell to 5-6 overall, while Saint Joseph's improved to 5-5 with the victory.

Juniors Ryan Wittman (16), Louis Dale (15) and Geoff Reeves (13) all hit for double figures as Cornell shot 46 percent from the floor overall and made 15-of-16 shots from the field. Dale added four steals, three rebounds and three assists in the loss, while sophomore Adam Wire had a solid all-around game with six points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Jeff Foote added eight points and Alex Tyler chipped in with seven. 

Nivins made 10-of-13 shots from the floor and had nine of his 16 boards on the offensive end to hold off a hard-charging Big Red team that led by as many as 13 in the first half. Idris Hilliard also had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Darrin Govens had 15 points. The Hawks limited Cornell to 36 percent shooting after halftime in the win.

As has been the trend, Cornell got out of the gates quickly on its power conference opponent on the road, stunning the crowd of nearly 6,200 by pushing out to a 20-7 lead 10 minutes into the game thanks in large part to a personal 8-0 run by Geoff Reeves. The Hawks had a run in them, however, using a late 11-3 run to take the lead with 42 seconds left before the break on a Nivins tip-in, the last of his six consecutive points in the final two minutes. But despite going up 32-31 late, Cornell had the answer in the form of a fallaway 16-foot jumper by Wittman over two defenders with four ticks on the clock. THe shot sent the Big Red into the locker room leading 33-32.

The Big Red kept it a little better than even on the boards in the first half, actually holding a 13-11 advantage while shooting 56 percent from the floor. Reeves had 11 points and Wittman added eight more, while Nivins had 10 points and five rebounds for Saint Joseph's.
 
It was the Nivins show in the second half, as the senior posted 16 points and 11 boards, including seven offensive rebounds in the final 20 minutes. In the first six minutes of the second half, Nivins had 10 points, including three offensive putbacks, a steal and an assist, but hustle plays by Tyler and Adam Wire kept Cornell in the game. Twice the home team went up by seven, but both times Cornell made a run to tie the game and eventually took a two-point lead with five to play after a pair of Dale free throws (60-58). From there, the energized Hawks went on a 10-0 run that included six points by Hilliard and yet another putback basket by Nivins. The Big Red cut that eight-point deficit to three and had the ball with under 20 seconds to play, but a tough charging call against Dale gave Saint Joseph's the ball back and the Big Red wouldn't have a chance to tie the game in the final seconds.

Cornell returns to action following the Christmas holiday when it plays host to Boston University on Monday, Dec. 29 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.