PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Cornell took a second half lead on Duquesne and then put the screws to the Dukes, forcing the home team to miss 13 consecutive field goals to pull away for a 78-71 victory on Monday evening at the Palumbo Center. The win, the Big Red's second straight, evened its record at 3-3, while Duquesne fell to 2-2.
Cornell shot 56 percent from the floor for the third straight game, but it was the defense that won this one on the home floor of its Atlantic 10 foe. The Big Red limited the Dukes to 35 percent shooting overall, including 31 percent after halftime. Cornell blocked six shots and waited out a Duquesne team that started out red-hot from beyond the arc after entering the game shooting just 29 percent from deep.
Junior
Matt Morgan became the first Cornell player in more than 30 years to register five straight 20-point games with a 24-point, five-assist effort, while classmate
Stone Gettings had 19 points in just 18 minutes of action after getting into early foul trouble.
Jack Gordon had 12 points, one off his career high, and Josh Warren hit all three of his field goals en route to eight points. Junior Steven Julian (eight points, eight rebounds, four assists, three blocks) and senior
Wil Bathurst (seven points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks) both had strong all-around floor games in the win.
Rene Castro-Caneddy had a game-high 26 points, while Eric Williams Jr. notched 12 points and 10 rebounds. Mike Lewis II was the third double figure scorer for Duquesne with 13 points, five rebounds and four steals.
Duquesne held a lead throughout the first half, taking advantage of hot shooting and doubling up the Big Red at the free-throw line to go into the break with a 35-32 edge. It could have been worse had it not been for a five-point play in the final seconds that sent Cornell into halftime with momentum. Trailing by eight, Gettings hit a diving layup on a great find from
Joel Davis and was fouled. The junior missed the free throw, but freshman Jimmy Boeheim's hustle play in the corner won the Big Red possession. Davis then hit Gordon for a long 3-pointer and the foul, cutting what was a 35-27 Duquesne lead to a three-point game after Gordon missed the charity toss.
Duquesne built the lead to six quickly out of the gates, but the Big Red chipped away, finally earning its first lead since the opening minutes on a jumper by Morgan after
Stone Gettings corralled his own miss. Cornell never trailed in the final 11 minutes, though the Dukes momentarily tied the game at 50-50. That launched a 17-4 Big Red run that put the visitors in the driver's seat. An 11-0 run, started with a big
Matt Morgan baseline drive and dunk and punctuated by a Josh Warren 3-pointer that rolled around the rim twice, came out and fell back in, all but put the game away. Duquesne got back within six, but Cornell was never seriously threatened, hitting 5-of-6 free throws and slicing through the Dukes' press for a run-out dunk by Bathurst.
Notes to Know
•
Matt Morgan scored 24 points for his fifth straight game with 20 or more points. He became the first Big Red player to reach that milestone since John Bajusz in 1986-87.
• Cornell shot .564 for the game, the third straight contest at .550 or better (first time doing that since the 1987-88 season).
• Steven Julian is the first Cornell player to put up at least eight points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks in a single game against a Division I opponent since Jeff Foote against Harvard in 2010 (16 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three blocks).
• The wins over Toledo (80-77) and at Duquesne (78-71) represent the first winning streak under head coach
Brian Earl.
Next Up
• Cornell will play its final game prior to exams when the Big Red visits Northeastern on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 4 p.m.
• Northeastern leads the all-time series 4-2, though Cornell won last season's meeting in Ithaca by an 80-77 score thanks to 34 points from
Matt Morgan, including the go-ahead basket with 19 seconds remaining.
