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ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's basketball team had the clock read zero three times before it was able to celebrate its first Ivy League win of the season, but in the end the Big Red wouldn't be denied. Cornell scratched, clawed and willed itself to a 70-67 victory over Dartmouth on Friday evening at Newman Arena.

Dwight Tarwater had 14 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals to lead four double figure scorers, while Nolan Cressler scored 17 points and had five rebounds. Jake Matthews notched 13 points, Devin Cherry had 12 points, four rebounds and four assists and freshmen Darryl Smith (six points, five rebounds) and David Onuorah (six points, four rebounds, three steals, two blocks) also contributed major minutes as Cornell snapped a 25-game losing streak against Division I opponents and a 12-game Ivy League skid dating back to last year.

Tyler Melville had 14 points, Alex Mitola scored 12 and Connor Boehm had 10 points to lead the Big Green, while John Golden notched eight points, 11 rebounds and four assists as Dartmouth outrebounded Cornell 38-36. The Big Green shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half after connecting on just 30 percent from the field in the first half.

Cornell led by 15 points with 11:55 left in regulation after Matthews hit a pair of free throws to make it 51-36. The Big Red got consecutive defensive stands, including a steal by Dominick Scelfo, but Cornell missed an easy layup that was kicked ahead for an Alex Mitola 3-pointer. That triggered a 16-0 run by the visitors over just 3:36 that featured 11 points from Mitola and ended with a Kevin Crescenzi jumper that gave Dartmouth its first lead since the opening minutes with exactly seven minutes remaining.

The lead would change seven times in the final seven minutes, with Dartmouth taking its final lead of the contest with 2:04 left after Tyler Melville hit the second of his two free throws. Leading by three, it looked as though Cornell might put the game on ice with under 45 second left when Mitola tried to shoot over a screen and Darryl Smith blocked it out of the air and fed it ahead to a streaking Cherry, who was fouled on the layup to make it a five-point game. Cherry wasn't able to convert the charity shot and Dartmouth made a final run. After an initial miss, Connor Boehm was fouled on a putback attempt . His free throw was missed, but it was again rebounded by the Big Green and Melville was fouled. He went to the line and missed the first before making the second, getting the visitors back within two (64-62) with 32 ticks left.

Tarwater connected on a pair of free throws to push it back to four, but Dartmouth answered right back. Eli Harrison hit his only field goal of the game when he got lost on an inbounds and drilled a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to make it 66-65 Big Red. Cherry was again fouled nad went to the line, where he hit the second, but Melville went uncontested to the hole to tie it up with nine seconds left.

Cherry was fouled on the inbounds and hit the go-ahead free throw on his second attempt to make it 68-67, and as Dartmouth raced downcourt for a game-winning attempt, Tarwater jumped in front of a Melville pass as the clock ran out. The team wasn't able to run on the court, however, as one second was put back on the clock after a Dartmouth foul. The senior calmly hit both shots to make it 70-67. Again, Dartmouth's inbounds pass was knocked out of bounds off a Cornell player and the clock again ran out, but the officials again went to the replay and determined there was 0.7 left. An inbounds into the backcourt left an off-balance fallaway 3-point shooter to push the attempt short and Cornell was able to head to the locker room with its second home win in its last three tries.

The Big Red returns to action tomorrow when it faces three-time defending league champion Harvard at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena. The Crimson escaped an upset bid at Columbia with a last-second tip-in to force overtime, then claimed the double overtime 88-84 win.