ITHACA, N.Y. – Freshman Matt Morgan wowed the Newman Nation crowd with a career-high 24 points and Cornell overcame turnovers on the offensive end with relentless pressure on the other as the Big Red opened its home slate with a 76-59 win over Binghamton. Cornell moved to 2-1 with the win, while the Bearcats dropped to 0-3.

Morgan added four rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block along with five 3-point field goals to lead three double figure scorers. Junior Darryl Smith established a new career high with 16 points, including hitting 6-of-7 field goals, and classmate Robert Hatter chipped in 15 points and a career-high 11 assists. Junior David Onuorah posted a career high in rebounds for the second straight game, grabbing 15 errant Binghamton shots.

After allowing an average of 107.0 points in its first two games, the Big Red's pressure defense was extremely effective against the Bearcats, forcing 16 turnovers and limiting the visitors to 37 percent shooting overall and a long 9-of-30 night from beyond the arc. Cornell held Binghamton to 27 points and 30 percent shooting over the first 20 minutes.

Cornell's effort on the defensive end, that included a 37-29 edge on the backboards, helped the Big Red overcome 20 turnovers. Cornell hit 12-of-24 3-pointers, its third straight game with double digits in treys. Smith was 4-for-4 for Cornell, while Morgan was 5-of-8.

Binghamton's Marlon Beck II had a team-high 17 points off the bench, including 5-of-10 3-pointers, while Willie Rodriguez added 14 points and seven rebounds.

While Morgan was in the spotlight, his dynamic backcourt mates Smith and Hatter were key. Hatter, who entered the contest 19th nationally in scoring at 26.0 ppg., scored 15 of 11 shots and set up easy basket after easy basket with his drive-and-kick, including a number to Morgan. Smith was efficient and steady, making every open shot with his lone miss coming on a drive that rimmed out. He added two steals, a block and two rebounds in his 27 minutes on the floor.

Cornell scored the game's first eight points and looked as though it might be off to the races, but Binghamton answered with a 16-7 run that put the visitors into the lead for the first time at 16-15 with 9:26 left in the first half.

The lead lasted nine seconds, or about long enough for Hatter to get the ball ahead to Smith for a go-ahead layup. Smith and Morgan hit consecutive 3-pointers and Onuorah, who had eight points and a block to go with his 15 boards, finished after being hit on the arm going up. The 10-0 spurt over just 2:17 was the separation it needed, and the home team went into the break with a 38-27 lead despite having a Morgan jumper waived off after a review for being a fraction of a second late.

A Beck 3-pointer with 11:52 remaining got the Bearcats back within five (51-46), but that triggered a 12-3 Big Red run and Cornell didn't need to sweat the rest of the way.



Notes to Know
• Matt Morgan's 24 points were a career high and brought his season average up to 20.0 ppg.
• After going scoreless in the opener against Georgia Tech, Darryl Smith is averaging 15.0 points over his last two games, including 5-of-5 from 3-point range.
• Robert Hatter's 11 assists nearly doubled up his previous career high of six set against Western Michigan as a freshman.
• The last time a Cornell player had double figure assists in a game was when Devin Cherry had 10 against Brown in the 2013-14 campaign.
• David Onuorah is averaging 10.3 rebounds per game on the season, including 14.5 in his last two contests.
• Binghamton's .367 field goal percentage is a season low by an opponent, besting the .438 Colgate shot on Monday.
• Cornell has started the year 2-1 for the second straight season after winning two games all of the previous campaign.
• The Big Red leads the all-time series with Binghamton 9-3 and is now 22-23 all-time against America East teams.

Hidden Box Score Gems
• Freshman Joel Davis hit his first career basket and had two points and two rebounds in two minutes of play. The 6-3 Davis has seven rebounds in 21 minutes of playing time.
• Sophomore Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof was 1-of-4 from 3-point range and has hit at least one trey in all three contests.
• Abdur-Ra'oof also has multiple blocked shots in each of the last two contests.
• Robert Hatter was credited with 11 of Cornell's 15 assists.
• After being outrebounded by 24 in the opener (48-24) by Georgia Tech, Cornell has held a 88-74 edge on the glass.

Freshman Sensation
• After three games, Morgan is averaging 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 0.7 steals and has hit 11-of-27 3-pointers (41 percent).
• He already has a pair of 20-point games and has been in double figures in all three contests.

Putting It Away
• For the second straight contest, Cornell took a double figure halftime lead.
• Two days before, the Big Red needed to hit last-minute shots in regulation and both overtimes to hold off Colgate, 101-98.
• This time, Cornell led by as many as 13 points in the first half, never saw the lead cut further than five points and never led by fewer than 10 points in the final six minutes of the contest.

Next Up
• Cornell will hit the road to face Canisius at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21 in Buffalo, N.Y.
• The game, a rematch of last season's 67-60 Big Red victory last November in Ithaca, will be broadcast on ESPN3.
• The Big Red returns home to play its annual Division III game against Penn State-Harrisburg at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 23 in Newman Arena.
• The contest will be part of a doubleheader, as the women will face Saint Francis (Pa.) at 6 p.m.