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HANOVER, N.H. -- Cornell shot a shade under 70 percent in the first half to put away Dartmouth quickly, setting a new single-season school record for wins in a season with an 88-70 victory on Saturday evening at Leede Arena. The Big Red improved to 23-4 (9-1 Ivy) and took over sole possession of first place with its win coupled with Princeton's 57-54 home loss to Brown. Dartmouth slipped to 5-19 (1-9 Ivy).
A day after setting the school's single-season record for 3-point field goals, the Big Red connected on 15 shots from beyond the arc, matching the second-best total in school history. Senior Ryan Wittman capped off an outstanding weekend with 23 points, including five of those treys. He led four players in double figures, as Louis Dale and Errick Peck each had 14 points and Jeff Foote recorded 10 points. Peck made all five of his shots from the floor, including his only 3-pointer, and hit all three free throws while adding two rebounds and two steals. Geoff Reeves scored nine points and Jon Jaques had six points and a team-best six rebounds. Cornell made 57 percent of its shots from the floor overall and 60 percent from beyond the arc (15-of-25).
Ronnie Dixon scored 20 points to lead the Big Green, who picked up their first Ivy win on Friday evening. Dixon added three rebounds, three assists and two steals. David Rufful added 11 points, while Kirk Crecco and Clive Weeden each notched eight points. Dartmouth was able to shoot 50 percent from the floor and hit 7-of-15 from beyond the arc. Dartmouth held a 28-18 scoring edge in the paint and a 13-4 advantage on second chance points.
The Big Red got off to a slow start as Dartmouth went up 7-3 at the first media timeout, but consecutive 3-pointers by Reeves gave Cornell the lead, and a trey by Wittman pushed the advantage to 12-9 six minutes in. The run extended to 24-4 as the visitors built a 27-11 edge at the under eight minute media timeout. Wittman scored 12 points during the run, continuing his aggressive offensive play on the weekend. Jaques hit a wide open trey to make it 30-11 at the seven-minute mark. It wouldn't get any better for the home team, as the lead ballooned to 23 points on a 3-pointer by Jaques with 44 seconds remaining in the half to send Cornell into the locker room with a 44-21 lead.
Cornell made 16-of-23 shots in the first half (.696), including 9-of-13 from 3-point range (.692). Wittman had 18 points in just 17 minutes to nearly outscore Dartmouth all by himself.
The second half saw Dartmouth shoot the ball at a 63 percent clip after a motivated Big Red squad held them to 36 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes. Despite the hot shooting, the home team never challenged. The lead never got below 17 points and grew to as much as 29 points before both teams started to substitute freely. Foote was a dominant force in just 13 minutes of action, scoring 10 points, grabbing five rebounds and blocking two shots.
Cornell returns home for a showdown with second-place Princeton on Friday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena in Bartels Hall. The Big Red won the first meeting 48-45 two weekends ago in New Jersey.
