ITHACA, N.Y. -- Freshman Matt Morgan and his teammates did all they could to send Robert Mischler out with a win in his final collegiate game. The senior captain did his part too. Cornell used all the emotions of Senior Day to hold off Brown 75-71 on Saturday evening at Newman Arena, ending the year at 10-18 (3-11). The Bears slipped to 8-20 (3-11 Ivy) with the loss.

Morgan scored 25 points, becoming the first Ivy League freshman to reach the 500-point plateau for a season and added four rebounds, four assists, a block and a key late steal that sealed the victory. Junior Darryl Smith, who broke a 52-year old single-season school record for shooting percentage (.649), added 13 points, four rebounds and two steals and sophomore Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof and junior JoJo Fallas each had eight points. Junior Robert Hatter had a strong all-around floor game with seven points, seven assists, four rebounds, three steals and just two tunrovers.

But it was the six points, one rebound and one steal in Mischler's second career start that got Cornell's competitive juices flowing, especially after a slow start that saw the home team fall behind 9-0 less than four minutes into the contest. It was Mischler's 3-pointer that got the Big Red on the board and breathed life into a team that would collect nine steals, block six shots and limit its turnovers (eight) while hitting half its shots from beyond the arc (9-of-18).

Brown placed all five starters in double figures with senior Cedric Kuakumensah scoring 21 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking three shots. The Ivy League's all-time leading shot blocker closed his career with 311 swats. Obie Oklolie chipped in 17 points and Steven Spieth nearly registered a triple-double with 12 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists to go along with two steals and a block.

The first half was a back and forth affair that ended in Cornell's favor, with the home team taking a 30-27 lead into the break. The Big Red started to rally after Mischler's trey, as a David Onuorah dunk and a short jumper in the lane closed the gap, and Cornell finally overtook the Bears when JoJo Fallas connected on a 3-pointer to go up 14-12 nine minutes in. The lead would change four times in the final 11 minutes, with neither team taking more than a four-point lead.

Cornell built on its lead coming out of halftime, connecting on a pair of 3-pointers off great ball movement, with Hatter hitting the first and Mischler connecting on the second to force a Brown timeout. Consecutive 3-pointers by Smith and Morgan and a steal and a run-out dunk by Smith extended the lead to 10, and eventually the lead grew to as many as 13 (53-40 when Fallas hit a running jumper in the lane and Hatter connected on a pair of free throws.

Brown made a final chage, getting back to two points three separate times - the first, Onuorah answered with a basket inside. The second and third time, Morgan came back by hitting a pair of free throws. The rookie was 7-of-8 from the line in the final minute of the contest to hold off Brown.

Onuorah had six points, four rebounds, three blocks and two steals in 29 energetic minutes. The Cornell bench had a huge impact, outscoring the Bears 18-0 to lift the Big Red to its 10th win of the year and 75th all-time against the Bears.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Freshman Matt Morgan's 25-point effort made him the first freshman in Ivy League history to surpass 500 career points and ended the night with 510 points, good for the sixth-highest scoring season ever at Cornell.
• Morgan posted his 12th 20-point game of the year.
• His seven free throws made gave him 122 for the season, good for 10th-most in a season and the second-most by a Big Red player since 1985.
• With nine 3-pointers, Cornell ended the year with 233 - good for fourth on the school's career list.
• Its six blocked shots ended the year at 107, eighth on the all-time list.

NEXT UP
• The season is complete, and practice for the 2016-17 campaign begins in October.