Box Score
Box Score
SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- For the first time in 56 years, the Cornell men's basketball team will enter Ivy League play with 10 victories, reaching double digits with a 69-46 victory at Bryant on Monday evening at the Chace Athletic Center. The Big Red improved to 10-6 with its first true road victory of the year, while the Bulldogs fell to 2-14.
Cornell, playing without head coach Steve Donahue who was attending to a death in his family, came out smoking and never let up, taking a 25-point lead into halftime. With assistant coach Zach Spiker leading the Big Red, the team was never threatened in the second half. Ryant Wittman hit for a game-high 18 points and added eight rebounds and four assists in the victory. Louis Dale chipped in with 16 points and five assists and Geoff Reeves poured in 15 points. The Big Red shot 50 percent from the floor (24-of-48) and from 3-point range (11-of-22), while outrebounding the Bulldogs 36-25.
Bryant got 13 points and five rebounds from Nick Pontes and 11 points and five boards from Cecil Gresham. Bryant shot 36 percent from the floor and just 13 percent from beyond the arc (2-of-15). Both Sam Leclerc and Andrew Lyell each netted seven points.
Cornell dominated the first half with its outstanding ball movement, hitting nine 3-pointers and shooting 60 percent from the floor, and on defense with its solid positioning in heading to the lockerroom with a 43-18 advantage. The trio of Reeves, Wittman and Dale combined for 31 points and the Big Red held a decisive 17-9 edge on the glass. Dale and Wittman also pitched in with a combined nine assists among the 12 total for the visitors in the first 20 minutes. Defensively, Cornell allowed the Bulldogs to shoot just 26 percent from the field and forced eight turnovers, surrendering just nine points in the final 14:52 of the half.
Reeves gave the Big Red an early lift, hitting his first four shots, including three 3-pointers, to put Cornell into the lead at 17-9. The lead grew to 26-12 as five straight Cornell baskets came from behind the arc, four against a Bulldog zone. Reeves and Dale each hit a pair of bombs durint he run. A backdoor cut for a basket by Wittman got the junior untracked, as he came back and hit consecutive 3-pointers, one from each corner, to build the advantage to 40-17. A great three-point play by Jason Battle on a feed down low from Adam Wire closed out a strong half for the defending Ivy champs.
The second half was more uneven, as Cornell cooled down from the floor while nursing the lead. The home team shot 43 percent from the field after the break, while the Big Red made just 9-of-23 shots (39 percent). Despite that, Cornell never let the lead dip below 21 points and was able play several lineups down the stretch.
The Big Red opens defense of its 2008-09 Ivy League championship when it visits Columbia on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. at Levien Gymnasium. Cornell has a five-game win streak against the Lions and will put a 15-game Ivy League win streak and an eight-game conference road win streak into the contest.
