HANOVER, N.H. -- The Cornell men's basketball team completed the season sweep of Dartmouth with a gritty 69-65 victory on Friday evening at Leede Arena. The Big Red improved to 7-17 (3-6 Ivy) and moved within a game of Columbia for the fourth and final spot in the Ivy League Tournament. Dartmouth fell to 5-17 (2-7 Ivy).

Sophomore Matt Morgan had a game-high 28 points and classmate Stone Gettings had his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Big Red. Cornell limited the Big Green to 41 percent shooting, including 37 percent after halftime, and turned the ball over just seven times in the win. Troy Whiteside had five points and five rebounds, the biggest coming on the offensive glass with under a minute to play and Cornell leading by just two points. Whiteside's rebound forced the Big Green into fouling, where Morgan hit four charity shots in the final 22 seconds to lock up the win.

Dartmouth's Evan Boudreaux had 27 points and eight boards, while Guilien Smith posted 15 points. Dartmouth held a 34-33 edge on the glass and held Cornell to just 4-of-17 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc (27 percent).

Cornell lived at the line after halftime, making 18-of-22 free throws (82 percent) to take the win, improving to 6-3 on the year when leading at halftime. Neither team lead by more than six points until the final three minutes, when Cornell went up by three possessions. Dartmouth fought back, clawing within two with under a minute to play, but the Big Red ran out the shot clock and Whiteside rebounded the miss to end Cornell's four-game losing skid.

The visitors took the lead for good after senior Robert Hatter was fouled on a drive with 6:17 remaining and connected on both free throws to erase what had once been a six-point Dartmouth lead. The Big Red then got three consecutive defensive stops and answered with two free throws by Gettings followed by four quick points by Morgan to take an eight-point edge (61-53), its biggest of the game, with 4:33 left.

The Big Red led by one at the half, 31-30, in an unevenly played first 20 minutes. Morgan had 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting in just 12 foul-plagued minutes to lead the visitors, who jumped out to a 9-3 lead early then later trailed by as many as five before see-sawing the lead back by the break.

NOTES TO KNOW:
• Sophomore Stone Gettings posted his first career double-double and is now averaging 9.5 rebounds over his last four games - including his first two double-digit rebounding efforts.
• Sophomore Matt Morgan's 28 points is his most in an Ivy League game this year and pushes his average to 21.0 ppg. over his last three outings.
• Morgan ended the evening with 919 points and needs to average 16.2 ppg. over his final five regular season contests to reach 1,000 points for his career.
• With his six points, senior Robert Hatter moved into 14th place on the school's scoring list with 1,174 points, surpassing Wallace Prather '02 (1,171 points).
• Freshman Josh Warren made his first career start and had six points, six rebounds (five offensive), an assist, a blocked shot and a steal in 22 minutes.
• Cornell was 18-of-22 from the free throw line in the second half after making its only charity shot attempt in the first 20 minutes.

NEXT UP:
• The Big Red will visit Harvard with a season split on its mind for the third year in a row when the teams meet on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m.