EASTON, Pa. -- Josh Warren had a career-high 17 points and Cornell's defense held strong after a rough start, allowing the Big Red to top Lafayette 63-58 in overtime on Wednesday evening at Kirby Sports Center. Cornell improved to 4-3 overall, while the Leopards slipped to 2-4 with the loss.

Warren, playing in front of a large section of family and friends, was the game's leading scorer and added a team-best seven rebounds as well as two assists and a blocked shot. Senior Matt Morgan chipped in 12 points, needing overtime to extend his consecutive games streak in double figures to 58. Jack Gordon had eight points, four rebounds and two assists and Terrance McBride had seven. Cornell's defense, which limited the Leopards to 36 percent shooting overall and 18 percent from 3-point range, was spearheaded by seniors Joel Davis, Steven Julian and Troy Whiteside.

Myles Cherry had 14 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Leopards and was joined in double figures by Justin Jaworski (15 points) and Alex Petrie (12 points). The home team dominated the backboards, outrebounding Cornell 51-37 on the night.

Lafayette hit six of its first eight shots to run out to a 13-2 lead with the Big Red hitting just 1-of-10 shots to start the game, but defense kickstarted the visitors. Joel Davis picked up a steal and went coast-to-coast for a dunk that triggered a 9-0 Big Red run. Cornell held the Leopards scoreless over a six minute span, then limited Lafayette to another 1-of-17 shooting stretch bridging the end of the first half and the first six minutes of the second. During that 16-2 Cornell spurt, the visitors took the lead for the first time.when Troy Whiteside hit a floater in the lane.

Neither team led by more than three points during the entirety of the second half and the first four minutes of the extra session until Julian won an offensive rebound off a missed free throw by Warren with a tip-out, then got a basket underneath in the post by Gordon. The Big Red hit three of four free throws in the final 16 seconds to secure the victory.

The overtime was only needed because Alex Petrie got lost on an inbounds play and canned a 3-pointer to tie the game at 52-52 after 40 minutes, A 3-pointer by Gordon broke a 45-45 tie with under two to play, with McBride and Warren each getting baskets in the final 70 seconds that were answered by the Leopards. Morgan got a last-second look from 15 feet to win the game in regulation after Petrie's bucket, but the shot rimmed out.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Warren's 17 points surpassed his previous high of 12 reached twice, the last time in February of 2017 vs. Yale.
• With his first point of the night, a 3-pointer more than 10 minutes into the game, Morgan became the ninth player in Ivy League history to reach the 1,800 point mark for a career.
• Cornell had just six turnovers in the win, the fewest by the Big Red in a game since coughing the ball up just five times in last season's win at Longwood.
• It's the fewest in an overtime game dating back to 1976.
• Cornell improved to 2-24 under head coach Brian Earl when it has fewer than 14 assists in a game, recording just nine in the win.
• The 58 points is the fewest a Division I opponent has scored in three seasons under Earl.
• Jake Kuhn hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to turn a three-point deficit into a three-point lead with 10 minutes to play in the second half.

NEXT UP
• The Big Red will visit Syracuse to close out the semester on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. at the Carrier Dome.
• The Orange holds a 38-game win streak in the series after a 77-45 victory last November.