SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The magical run through the 2010 NCAA tournament came to an end for the Cornell men's basketball team on Thursday night, falling to top-seeded Kentucky, 62-45, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. Cornell trailed by 16 points at halftime and by as many as 17 in the second half before whittling the deficit down to six points before the Wildcats put the game away down the stretch.

Seniors Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman led the way for the Big Red on the night, with Dale leading all scorers with 17 points. Wittman added 10 for the Big Red, who also got eight points and six rebounds from fellow senior Jeff Foote.

For Kentucky, DeMarcus Cousins had 16 points with forward Eric Bledsoe adding 12 points. Patrick Patterson had nine points and 12 rebounds for the Wildcats, with freshman phenom John Wall collecting eight points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

For the night, the hot-shooting Cornell offense connected on just 33.3 percent of its shots from the field, making 16-of-48 shots, and hit just five-of-21 from three-point range (23.8 percent). Kentucky, meanwhile, shot 44 percent from the floor (22-of-50) and won despite going just 2-of-16 from three-point range (12.5 percent).

"I was really pleased with defense tonight," said Kentucky head coach John Calipari. "Our guys made it really hard for them. Our game plan was to not let them to the line and guard the three-point line, and I think we did that pretty well."

"I thought Kentucky played tremendous defense in understanding what our strengths are, but I thought we also were able to run our offense," said Cornell head coach Steve Donahue. "We just missed shots we normally make. I was proud of our team when we cut the lead to six, and our guys fought tooth and nail to get back into it, even though we obviously weren't playing our 'A' game offensively."

With Syracuse's 63-59 loss to Butler earlier in the night, the basketball hopes of Central New York fell squarely on the shoulders of the Big Red, and the Carrier Dome crowd provided Cornell a decisive home court advantage, as red-clad fans inside the arena easily outdrew the sizeable Kentucky contingent.

Both teams started out cold, with each squad missing its first two shots on the night. Kentucky also turned the ball over twice and Cornell once in the opening minutes.

Two and a half minutes in, Cornell finally broke the scoring drought with a jump hook from Foote before Cousins answered with a short-range jumper of his own on the other end. A pair of three-pointers, one by Wittman and one from Dale, in addtion to a 15-foot jumper by Dale, pushed Cornell's lead to 10-2 and putting the Carrier Dome crowd into a frenzy, before Cousins got the the rim for a layup to end the 8-0 Cornell run. Another layup by Cousins made the score 10-6 in favor of the Big Red at the first media timeout with 13:26 to play in the first half.

Kentucky continued the run by scoring the first five points out of the timeout to take its first lead of the night, 11-10, with 12:14 to play, and Cornell would not lead again. A three by Patterson from the top of the key stretched the Wildcat lead to four points at the under-12 media timeout, 14-10. Foote came out of the timeout with a reverse dunk to stop the Kentucky run at 12 straight points and to cut the deficit to two, 14-12.

Cornell's defense kept the Wildcats at bay for a long stretch of time, keeping the score at 14-12 for the next two and a half minutes, before a jumper by Eric Bledsoe ended the scoring drought. Unfortunately for Cornell, the Kentucky defense was also up to the challenge, holding Cornell at just 12 points for nearly the next five minutes.

Cornell closed to within five points at 21-16 with 4:17 to play in the half, but Kentucky closed out the half with an 11-0 run over the final 3:33 to break open the game and lead by 16 at halftime, 32-16. Kentucky held a decisive 24-6 edge in points in the paint and a 17-2 lead in points off turnovers, capitalizing on 12 Cornell miscues. Kentucky also did an exceptional job on the glass, limiting the Big Red to just one offensive rebound in the first half.

Dale finally ended the Cornell scoreless streak two and a half minutes into the second half after the Big Red went nearly seven minutes without scoring on both sides of the break. After a made jumper by Wall, Dale grabbed an offensive rebound off a miss by Wrobleski and put back a shot off the glass. Cornell forced turnovers on the next two Wildcat possessions, but only picked up one point on an Errick Peck free throw.

Despite Kentucky stretching the lead to as many as 17 with 12:30 to play in the second half, the Big Red kept plugging away, finally chipping the lead down to just 10 with 9:27 to go, 38-28. A pair of missed free throws from Cousins gave the ball back to Cornell, and Peck drilled a jumper from 17 feet with 8:30 to play to cut the deficit to eight, 38-30.

Cousins put the Wildcats back up by 10 with his move to the rim, but Dale drained the front end of a 1-and-1 with 6:20 to play to make the deficit nine, 40-31. Wall then missed a 15-footer along the baseline, and Dale drained a three from the right wing that cut the deficit to six with 5:24 to play.

That would be as close as Cornell would get the rest of the way, as Cousins then put the Wildcats back up by eight with a right-handed jump hook in the lane. A pair of Patterson foul shots then pushed the Wildcat lead back up to double digits.

Kentucky then went to work on the offensive glass, putting back a pair of misses and getting a layup by Cousins on a goaltending call to make the score 46-34 at the final media timeout with 3:53 to play. A Wittman three brought the Big Red back to within 11, but Cousins hit the first of two foul shots and the Wildcats got the offensive rebound to keep possession with a 10-point lead. Eric Bledsoe then hit a jumper from the baseline as the shot clock was set to expire to push the lead back up to 12, 49-37.

Foote was fouled on the other end of the floor and made the pair of shots to again pull the deficit to 10, but Darius Miller tilted the see-saw back the other way with a pair of free throws of his own with 2:14 to play. A Wittman 15-footer from the baseline again brought Cornell to within 10, 51-41, with 1:56 to play and drew a timeout from Cornell coach Steve Donahue. Following the timeout, the Wildcats tried for a highlight-reel alley-oop, only to have the pass swatted away by Foote, but at the other end, Wittman's three-pointer fell well short of the mark, and Adam Wire fouled Cousins to put him on the free throw line. Cousins hit the first of two, and Wire converted a reverse layup on the other end to again pull within single digits, 52-43, and get another timeout with 1:18 to play.

That would be as close as the Big Red would get, though, as the Wildcats sealed the game away at the free throw line, with Eric Bledsoe hitting all eight of his foul shot attempts during the final 1:17. Wall added a thunderous dunk on an alley-oop from Bledsoe with 43 seconds left, as the Wildcats capped off the win.

The loss ends the greatest season in Cornell history with the Big Red finishing with a 29-5 record. The senior class of 2010 finished its four-year careers with 88 wins, the fourth-highest total in Ivy League history and the most among a single class in school history.

"It's hard to look at it right now, obviously coming off a loss, but I think in the next few weeks, months or whatever, I think we'll appreciate it a lot more," Wittman said. "It's been a tremendous run for us, and it's been fun playing with the guys on the team. We've just been enjoying every moment of it."

Kentucky, meanwhile, advances to the NCAA East Regional final on Saturday against second-seeded West Virginia, a 69-56 winner over 11th-seeded Washington in the other regional semifinal on Thursday night. The Wildcats improved to 35-2 on the season.