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Cornell University Athletics

Chris Wroblewski, St. Bonaventure 2010-11
Tim McKinney/Cornell Athletics

St. Bonaventure Ends Men's Hoops' Home Win Streak In 56-54 Thriller

11/19/2010 9:24:37 PM

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ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell's backcourt of Chris Wroblewski and Max Groebe each collected career scoring highs, but St. Bonaventure's dominance on the backboards proved too much as the Big Red dropped a 56-54 decision on Friday evening at Newman Arena. The loss snapped a 12-game home win streak and dropped the home team to 2-2, while the Bonnies improved to 2-1 with the victory.

Wroblewski, making his first start of the year, poured in a career-high 25 points and added five rebounds, five assists and four steals, while Groebe notched 16 points to outscore the Bonnies' starting backcourt 41-11, while limiting SBU's guards to 1-of-15 shooting from the floor. St. Bonaventure won the battle of the boards 48-28 and shot 21 more free-throws than the home team in capturing the victory. Demitrius Conger (22 points, 14 rebounds) and Andrew Nicholson (19 points, 10 rebounds) each had double-doubles in the contest for St. Bonaventure.

Cornell struggled scoring from inside the 3-point line despite making 12 3-pointers and shooting 46 percent from beyond the arc. Inside the 3-point line, the Big Red connected on just 5-of-26 shots (.192) and had just three offensive rebounds. The Bonnies shot only 35 percent, but one of its two 3-pointers of the game came on a four-shot possession with less than a minute left in the contest, giving the visitors a 52-51 lead with 47 seconds left.

Two days after topping Delaware, the Big Red led by as many as 11 with just about 11 minutes left as Wroblewski carried the offensive load. He made 6-of-10 shots from beyond the arc and accounted for 12 of the team's 17 field goals by scoring or with the assist. Adam Wire added five rebounds and five assists to the cause.

Like Wednesday, the visitor got off to a quick start, holding the Big Red scoreless over the first 3:49 and taking a 5-0 lead before Wroblewski hit a trey from the corner, the first of three he would hit on consecutive possessions to go up 9-5. The three 3-pointers came in a span of 1:28, shifting the momentum. A 3-pointer by Drew Ferry with 9:31 left in the half made it a double figure advantage. The lead was six with a minute to play before the Bonnies scored on consecutive possessions, including a Big Red turnover and SBU run-out as time expired to cut the margin to two at the half.

Cornell hit three more 3-pointers in the first 4:09 of the second half to get the lead back up to 11 (39-28), and Groebe's trey with 11:32 left on the clock proved to be the high-water mark (42-31) before the road team slowly chipped away at the lead.

The challengers from the Atlantic 10 finally tied it at 44-44 and took the lead on the second of two free throws by Michael Davenport with 5:38 ledt, leading to a back and forth final five minutes. A pair of Wroblewski free throws, followed by a Ferry 3-pointer off a find by Wroblewski gave the Big Red a 51-47 lead with 2:30, but only a Groebe 3-pointer with seven seconds left would find the scoreboard the remainder of the way. A jumper by Nicholson made it 51-49 Cornell, and after a defensive stop, the Bonnies were able to use their presence on the offensive boards to get a second and third attempt before Conger's go-ahead 3-pointer with 47 seconds remaining.

After Groebe's 3-pointer with seven ticks remaining, Cornell sent Nicholson to the free-throw line, where he made the first and missed the second to mak eit 56-54. The inbounds pass ended in the hands of Wroblewski, but his long 3-point attempt to win was short as the horn sounded.

Cornell returns to action on Monday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.
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