ITHACA, N.Y. – Junior Robert Hatter scored 29 points, the Big Red dominated the paint and Cornell ran past defending Patriot League champion Lafayette for an 85-67 decision on Saturday afternoon at Newman Arena. The win, Cornell's second straight overall and fourth in a row at home, improved the Big Red to 5-4, while the Leopards slipped to 2-6.

Cornell outscored Lafayette 52-25 in the paint, forced 20 turnovers with 15 steals and only trailed 2-0 in leading virtually wire-to-wire in closing out the pre-exam schedule strong.

Hatter hit on 10-of-16 field goals, including 3-of-5 from beyond the 3-point arc, and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds to go along with three assists and three steals to cap off a fantastic week. Classmate Darryl Smith added 16 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists and both David Onuorah and Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof had 11 points, matching and setting career scoring highs, respectively. Onuorah added eight rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Abdur-Ra'oof chipped in an assist and a blocked shot while hitting 5-of-7 field goals in his 20 minutes.

Freshman Matt Morgan scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds, dished three assists and had three steals in the victory and classmate Troy Whiteside netted six points and three rebounds. The Big Red shot 52 percent from the floor, outrebounded the Leopards 37-34 and limited Lafayette to 21 percent shooting from 3-point range (6-of-28) and 41 percent overall.

Nick Lindner had 19 points and nine assists, but also turned it over eight times. Bryce Scott and Matt Klinewski each had 14 points, with Scott adding seven rebounds.

Lafayette scored the game's first points just 18 seconds into the game, but Cornell scored the next 10 and never again trailed. Onuorah scored on a putback to tie it up, then scored on baskets from Smith and Hatter after getting defensive stops. The Big Red got a second basket from Onourah and a driving bucket from Morgan after steal to make it 10-2. Just 2:25 into the contest.

Lafayette got back within 10-7 and later to 20-17, but each time Cornell answered to get the game quickly back to double figures – the first with an 8-0 run and the second with a 7-0 spurt.

Except for two possessions, the Big Red led for double figures the rest of the half with a Hatter 3-pointer and an assist on a basket by Abdur-Ra'oof pushing the edge to 15 (41-26) before ending the half with a 43-33 edge.

Lafayette came out ready out of the halftime locker room, scoring four quick points to get within two possessions (43-37) a minute in, but Morgan answered with his only 3-pointer of the half and the Leopards never got back within nine points the rest of the way.

The Big Red pressure defense was good for 10 first half steals and a handful of dunks, electrifying the crowd of 1,934 in attendance for Kid's Day at Newman Arena. A last-minute 3-pointer by freshman Jack Gordon for his first career points and a steal by sophomore Kyle Brown kept the energy in the building on high right to the final horn, a good omen for a Big Red team that stayed unbeaten at home while averaging a super-charged 79.5 points per game on 49 percent shooting.

Turning Point
• Lafayette scored the game's first basket, but Cornell answered with a 10-0 spurt over just 1:28 and never trailed again.
• Cornell forced six turnovers in the game's first 5:10, including steals on three straight possessions after Lafayatte got back within three points, en route to a 16-7 lead.
• The Big Red led by as many as 15 in the first half and turned 13 Lafayette turnovers in 17 points.

Notes On Hatter
• Putting together the second half of the Siena win and the first win against Lafayette, Robert Hatter scored 46 points with four rebounds, three assists and four steals while shooting 14-of-24 from the field, 7-of-8 from 3-point range and 11-of-14 from the free-throw line with one turnover in 34 minutes.
• Hatter's 61 points in a two-game span is the most since Ryan Wittman also scored 61 points in consecutive games at Indiana (28) and Syracuse (33) during the 2008-09 campaign..
• Hatter narrowly missed his third 30-point game of the season after earlier in the week becoming the first Cornellian with multiple 30-point games in a season since Ken Bantum in the 1984-85 season (31 years ago).
• With three assists, Hatter surpassed 100 for his career (now at 102).
• Hatter's nine rebounds topped the six he had against Loyola (Md.) as a freshman in 2013 for a new career high.
• In two games this week, Hatter averaged 30.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.0 steals.

Notes To Know
• Cornell's 15 steals are tied for the eighth-most in a single game in school history and is the most against a Division I team since also collecting 15 against Dartmouth during the 2012-13 campaign.
• Over his last two games, Darryl Smith is averaging 14.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.0 assists while hitting 12-of-16 field goals (75 percent).
• Smith's point (16) and assist (3) totals matched career highs, while his four steals established a new career best.
• Junior Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof posted his first career double figure scoring game with 11 points.
• Junior David Onuorah tied his career high with 11 points and also hit 4-of-6 field goals, the eighth time in nine games he has made at least 50 percent of his shots.
• The Big Red is 15-3 when scoring at least 80 points under head coach Bill Courtney.
• Freshman Jack Gordon hit a 3-pointer for his first collegiate points in the final minute.
Against non-BCS opponents, Cornell is 5-2 while scoring 78.9 ppg. while allowing opponents to shoot just 41 percent from the floor

Next Up
• Cornell will take a two week break for final exams before visiting Syracuse on Saturday, Dec. 19 at noon at the Carrier Dome.
• The Big Red returns home on Wednesday, Dec. 23 when Monmouth comes to Newman Arena for a 6 p.m. tip-off.