Box Score Box Score

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Head coach Bill Courtney picked up his first win as a collegiate coach as Cornell topped Albany 65-61 on Friday evening at SEFCU Arena in the season opener for both squads. The new-look Big Red overcame a 12-point first half deficit to capture its 16th win in its last 20 road contests.

Senior Adam Wire did what he always does - influence the game with his hustle and basketball IQ. The 6-5 forward had a career-high eight assists and a game-high 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive end. Max Groebe led all Cornell scorers with 15 points, while Aaron Osgood hit 6-of-7 shots from the floor for 14 points to go along with five rebounds. Drew Ferry and Johnathan Gray each had 12 points off the bench, with Gray hitting four of the team's 10 3-pointers on the night.

Tim Ambrose had 20 points off the bench to lead four double figure scorers for the Great Danes, who shot 58 percent in the first half and entered the break with a 37-35 lead. Cornell turned up the defense in the second half, limiting the Great Danes to 24 points in capturing the win.

After graduating the most heralded senior class in school history, missing the team's only returning starter, Chris Wroblewski, to injury, and debuting a brand new head coach, nothing from the 2010-11 looked even remotely similar to last season. But forging a new identity is never easy, and this team already showed its mettle.

After falling behind 22-10 with a raucous Albany crowd squarely behind its Great Danes, an unheralded group chipped away at the lead and grinded out its sixth consecutive season-opening win for the program.

The words career highs could be littered about for nearly every Cornell player who stepped on the court. The starting lineup had a grand total of two career starts (both by Wire), and the Big Red looked nervous to start.

Albany jumped out quickly, but a three-point play byu Osgood got Cornell within 14-10 with 10 minutes gone in the first half. The Great Danes responded with an 8-0 run that included a 3-pointer by Ambrose and a three-point play by Mike Black. The Albany guard would go out of the game three minutes later with Cornell on the move, with Groebe's 3-pointer cutting the deficit to seven at 24-17. A pair of big 3-pointers by Gray, the former team manager and walk-on, in a two-minute span eventually tied the contest at 28-28. Cornell took its first lead of the game on another trey, this one by Ferry, at 31-30, but Albany was able to head into the break still holding a narrow 37-35 lead with Ambrose scoring or assisting on nine of the team's final 11 points.

The second half was back-and-forth early before the Big Red seemingly took control of the game, taking the lead on a Ferry 3-pointer with 13:05 left and never again trailing. A short banked-in jumper by Osgood extended the lead to eight, but Albany again made a move. A driving layup by Ambrose and a 3-pointer by Logan Aronhalt cut the Cornell lead to 64-61, but Ferry hit the front end of a 1-and-1 with three seconds to go to seal Courtney's first collegiate victory.

Cornell returns to action on Sunday, Nov. 14 at noon when it meets Seton Hall at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The game will be televised live on SportsNew New York and also simulcast on ESPN3 online.