ITHACA, N.Y. -- Seniors Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof and Kyle Brown gave the Big Red a shot in the arm early and Cornell's poise late led it to a 73-68 victory over Brown to head into the final weekend of conference play alive for a bid to the Ivy League Basketball Tournament.

Abdur-Ra'oof and Brown got senior day starts and keyed a 7-0 spurt out of the blocks with an alley-oop bucket by the former and a 3-pointer from the latter. Abdur-Ra'oof also provided key second half minutes and ended the evening with seven points, two assists, a rebound and two dunks that electrified the home crowd.

Junior Matt Morgan added a game-high 17 points and a team-high eight boards for the Big Red, while Stone Gettings chipped in 12 points and five assists and Terrance McBride had 10 points, four assists and three rebounds without committing a turnover. Junior Steven Julian brought the energy with eight points, seven rebounds, four blocks, three steals and two assists in the win. Cornell turned the ball over just nine times, blocked 10 shots and limited the Bears to 34 percent shooting overall, including 4-of-20 from beyond the arc.

The high-scoring Brown backcourt of Brandon Anderson and Desmond Cambridge, who rank 2-3 in the Ancient Eight in scoring, combined for just 20 points on 6-of-28 shooting in the loss. Tamenang Choh picked up the slack, scoring 17 points and ripping down 12 rebounds while also leading the team with four assists. Obi Okolie (15 points, eight rebounds) and Cambridge (11 points) were also in double figures. Brown kept itself in the game thanks to its work on the offensive glass, grabbing 17 boards and outscoring the Big Red 15-4 in second chance points.

Unlike Friday night when Cornell surrendered a lead in the final minute, the Big Red saw a 10-point lead with under nine minutes to play evaporate and twice saw the Bears go ahead, only to get big plays when it needed them. A three-point play by Chris Sullivan with 3:24 to play put the visitors up ahead 64-63, but freshman Terrance McBride answered on the other end with a pair of free throws. A minute later, Cambridge put Brown ahead 66-65, only to immediately be answered by a Gettings go-ahead jumper. After rebounding an errant Brown effort, Gettings found Julian underneath for a bucket to push the edge to three (69-66) with 78 seconds remaining. Cornell hit all four free throws in the final 16 seconds to hold off the visitors and sweep the season series. 

Cornell's defense was the story for the second straight contest against the Bears. The Big Red limited Brown to 33 percent shooting and 2-of-10 from 3-point range in the first half and kept that pace up, nearly matching those same numbers exactly in the second 20 minutes (35 percent shooting, 2-of-10 from 3-point range). Brown still managed to climb out to a seven-point lead seven minutes into the second half before the home team turned a 47-40 deficit into a 60-50 lead, a 20-3 run that spanned 5:22. Gordon had five points and Davis had four during the run, but it was Abdur-Ra'oof that did the most damage. The senior, a starter as a sophomore before missing the entire 2016-17 campaign due to injury, canned a 3-pointer to give his team its first lead since 24-23 when he rattled one home with 10 minutes to play. A minute later, he caught the ball on the perimeter and the seas parted, with the Rockville, Md. native rattling the rim to extend the lead to eight (58-50) and send the Big Red bench into a frenzy.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Junior Matt Morgan;s 17 points extended his school-record streak of consecutive double figure scoring games to 48.
• His 17 points gives him 561 for the season to move to No. 3 on Cornell's list, behind only two years by Ryan Wittman '10 (596 points in 2009-10 and 572 in 2008-09). 
• Freshman Terrance McBride had his string of consecutive made field goals snapped at 12, the second-longest stretch in school history.
• The Big Red blocked 10 shots for the second time this season, tied for the fourth-most in a game at Cornell.
• The victory was the 200th all-time at Newman Arena (200-153).
• The five Ivy wins also surpasses last season's total when it went 4-10 overall.
• Cornell closed its season with an 8-4 record at Newman Arena, its best record at home by percentage since the 2011-12 season (10-3).

Next Up
• The Big Red closes out the regular season with road contests at Harvard (Friday, March 2 at 7 p.m.) and Dartmouth (Saturday, March 3 at 7 p.m.) as the #RoadToIvyMadness concludes.