ITHACA, N.Y. -- Mid-major darling Monmouth ended Cornell's four-game home win streak to open the season with a 78-69 win over the Big Red on Wednesday evening at Newman Arena. The Hawks, which already have wins over schools from the Pac-12 (UCLA and USC), ACC (Notre Dame), Big Ten (Rutgers) and Big East (Georgetown) in its pocket, improved to 9-3 on the season, while the Big Red slipped to 5-6.

Despite missing two of the team's top seven scorers (Matt Morgan and Wil Bathurst), the Big Red used some impressive defense and hot shooting early to jump out to a 13-point lead midway through the first half, but Monmouth methodically chipped away to take a three-point lead at the half and never trailed after the break. Big Red junior guard Robert Hatter scored a game-high 27 points and added four rebounds and three steals and classmate JoJo Fallas, making his first career start, chipped in 17 points and six boards.

Justin Robinson had 26 points, five assists and four rebounds to lead the Hawks, while Deon Jones added 11 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. Three other players scored at least eight points. Monmouth held a 50-35 edge on the backboards and had 19 offensive rebounds.

The shorthanded Big Red announced early the game would be a dogfight, turning a 6-4 deficit into a seven-point lead with a 9-0 run over 2:05 that included a Fallas 3-pointer and two driving buckets by Hatter. The advantage grew to 10 with the run extending to 19-4 as the home team to a lead of as many as 13 when Fallas hit a 3-pointer, his third of the contest, to make it 23-10 with 10:17 left in the first.

Cornell maintained the advantage until Monmouth closed the half on a 17-6 run, with the Hawks taking the lead for good on a Justin Robinson bucket with under a minute to play in the first half. A steal and bucket by Jones made the advantage 37-34 at the break.

The Big Red tied the game at 41-41 on a 3-pointer by Hatter 3:15 into the second half and kept the game within two possessions nearly the entire second half. Monmouth built a lead of as many as nine (52-43) before Cornell made a final charge. Consecutive 3-pointers by Hatter and freshman Troy Whiteside got Cornell back within three with just under 10 minutes left, and the Big Red creeped back to within a basket with 6:26 left when Hatter drove the lane for a layup. Austin Tilghman answered with a conventional three-point play to kickstart a quick 6-0 spurt, and Cornell wouldn't get back within six points the rest of the way. Monmouth extended the lead into double figures only in the last two minutes.

Notes To Know
• JoJo Fallas, making his first career start, had career highs of 17 points and six rebounds in place of freshman Matt Morgan.
• Robert Hatter's 27 points gives him a 25.5 ppg. scoring average over his last four contests.
• Freshman Joel Davis blocked a career high three hots in 15 minutes of action, with the Big Red swatting away a total of nine shots (ninth-best total in school history.
• The Big Red hit 12 3-pointers, the sixth time in 11 games it has reached double figures.
• Cornell extended its streak of consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 755 games.
• Monmouth had a 50-35 edge on the backboards, including 19-8 on the offensive glass.
• The Hawks outscored the Big Red 19-8 on second chance points, 50-12 in the paint and 18-0 on the fastbreak.

Turning Point
• Cornell led by 13 points (23-10) before Monmouth ended the half on a 27-11 run to take a three-point lead into the break.
• Justin Robinson hit a pair of 3-pointers sandwiched around a Austin Tilghman layup in the span of 90 seconds to get the Hawks going.

Changes In The Record Books
• Cornell's nine blocked shots is tied for the ninth-most in a game in school history - the Big Red hit that mark or better six times in the last two years.
• The Big Red's 32 3-point attempts ranks tied for eighth in a single game.
• Junior Robert Hatter's 24 field goal attempts (tied for 16th) and 13 3-point attempts (tied for 14th) both rank among the top 20 in school history.

Next Up
• Cornell will visit Saint Peter's on Monday, Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. before kicking the 2016 portion of the slate at home against Albany on Saturday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. in Newman Arena.
• The Big Red will be looking for its first-ever win over the Peacocks, trailing the series 3-0.