Box Score

Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. - Cornell fought off a feisty Princeton team to claim its fourth straight victory, a 50-47 win over the Tigers on Friday night at Newman Arena. The Big Red never trailed while improving to 24-4 overall and 10-1 in the Ivy League. Princeton fell to 16-8 (7-3 Ivy).

Senior center Jeff Foote led the Big Red with 19 points, while classmate Ryan Wittman added 12 points, half coming on a perfect 6-for-6 effort from the foul line. Wittman converted two free throws with 2.8 seconds left to account for the final margin leaving the Tigers with the challenge of inbounding the pass and getting in position for a desperation 3-point attemp which did not come close.

Foote and Wittman each lead Cornell with five rebounds apiece, with Foote adding two blocks and making 6-of-7 shots from the floor.

Dan Mavraides scored 13 poinits and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Tigers, who got 11 and 10 points from Kareem Maddox and Pawel Buczak, respectively.

Cornell led by just a pair, 26-24, at the half. The Big Red's largest lead was a nine-point cushion, 16-7, at the 10:22 mark of the first half. Princeton then outscored Cornell 17-10 the rest of the opening stanza to make it anyone's game at the half.

A nip-and-tuck battle ensued in the second half with Cornell leading by no more than eight points. The Big Red took a 38-31 lead with 9:58 to play. Buczak hit a  driving layup with 2:31 left to pull within 45-43. Princeton would get no closer than one point the rest of the way before Wittman converted the two crucial free throws.

The Big Red returns to action Saturday when they host Penn at Newman Arena at 7 pm.