Box Score Box Score (PDF)

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Cornell played fast, took care of the ball and snapped its four-game losing streak with a dominant 89-55 victory over Presbyterian at the 2012 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational on Friday afternoon at Orleans Arena. The Big Red improved to 2-4, while the Blue Hose fell to 0-5.

The Big Red shot 57 percent from the floor as a team, made 11 3-pointers, turned the ball over just seven times and outrebounded Presbyterian 36-25 in a game that provided the biggest margin of victory in head coach Bill Courtney's tenure at Cornell.

All 16 players dressed saw action, with five reaching double figures. Senior Johnathan Gray snapped out of a shooting slump with a 16-point performance. The senior connected on 3-pointers on the Big Red's first two possessions as Cornell jumped out to a 6-0 lead and never trailed. Freshman Nolan Cressler added 14 points and five rebounds and sophomore Devin Cherry and senior Eitan Chemerinski each had 13. Sophomore Shonn Miller rounded out the group with 10 points, five rebounds and three steals. Just missing double figures was sophomore Galal Cancer with nine points and two steals.

Presbyterian shot just 37 percent overall and was the fifth Big Red opponent in six games this season to shoot less than 30 percent from beyond the arc. Khalid Muutakabbir had 17 points and six rebounds to lead the Blue Hose, while Jordan Downing had 14. The duo shot just 9-of-30 from the floor for their 31 points.

The most obvious difference in a game dominated by the Big Red was Cornell's depth. Playing as the home team on a neutral site, Cornell's bench outscored Presbyterian's 47-8, with Courtney subbing in a fresh five players numerous times in the second half to keep up the Big Red's frenetic pace. Only two players played more than 20 minute (Miller with 27, Gray with 26), leaving the squad fresh for tomorrow's consolation championship game against Longwood, an 86-83 overtime winner over Florida A&M in the first contest of the day.

It was apparent early that the Big Red was ready to snap its losing skid, jumping out to a13-5 lead in the first five minutes and never looking back. Presbyterian briefly got back within four (13-9), but Cornell controlled the action by speeding up the game against the Blue Hose. A 9-0 run over the span of 2:11 turned a single digit game into an 18-point bulge (35-17) with less than six minutes to play in the half as Chemerinski had two buckets and grabbed an offensive rebound and found Cressler for a jumper for another bucket. Cornell couldn't put more separation between the teams and went into halftime leading 45-28. The biggest excitement came with four minutes left when Miller, frustrated at being held, coming around a screen, batted away a defender's hand, then rolled to the rim for a vicious dunk.

Gray had 12 points in the decisive first half, including hitting 3-of-5 from deep. Cornell held a dominant 22-10 rebounding edge, had a 22-0 advantage in bench points and had turned the ball over just twice.

After halftime it was much of the same. Nolan Cressler hit a 3-pointer to push the advantage to 20 a minute in and the lead never got back below 16 the rest of the way. Cornell hit seven treys in the second 20 minutes to pull away, leading by as many as 38 and cruising to the victory.

The Big Red returns to action on Saturday, Nov.24 when it meets Longwood at Orleans Arena in the tournament's consolation final.