ITHACA, N.Y. -- Seth Towns drained a go-ahead 3-pointer with under three minutes to play and preseason Ivy League favorite Harvard held on down the stretch with free throws to top Cornell 76-73 on Saturday evening at Newman Arena. The Big Red fell to 8-11 on the season (2-4 Ivy), while Harvard moved within a half-game of first place at 5-1 in conference play and 10-11 overall.

Cornell's Stone Gettings had his third 30-point game of the season and the fourth double-double of his career with a 32-point, 10-rebound effort in defeat, while Matt Morgan scored 16 points and dished off six assists without a turnover. Josh Warren scored eight points, Steven Julian had five points and five boards and Terrance McBride had four points, five helpers and two steals. The Big Red had 19 assists on the night and just 10 turnovers, but were done in at the free-throw line - hitting just 10-of-18, including missing the tying or go-ahead free throw twice in the final three minutes, and one that would have extended its lead to two possessions right before Harvard took a lead with 3:09 to play.

Towns ended the night with 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists among four double figure scorers. Chris Lewis chipped in 17 points, six boards, two assists and three blocked shots, Christian Juzang had 12 points, six rebounds and three assists and Danilo Djuricic scored 11 off the bench. The Crimson made 15-of-16 free throws on the night, including all 10 second half charity tosses and six straight in the final 88 seconds for the win.

Towns brought all the momentum to the Crimson with his big shot with 2:25 left to give the visitors the lead, but Cornell had several chances late. The Big Red missed a 3-pointer with a minute to play that would have tied the game, missed a free throw 30 seconds later after a beautifully executed quick hitter drew a three-point play opportunity, and a third-tying shot from 3-point range with three seconds left that went long.

The game, which featured six ties and five lead changes, had Cornell in the lead for a full 27 minutes as it ran efficient offense against the Ivy League's top defensive unit. The Big Red shot 46 percent overall, punishing Harvard in the Morgan-Gettings two-man game. Gettings got 12 good looks from beyond the arc, cashing in on six.

The home team led by as many as nine points in the first half (21-12), but the Crimson took command late and entered the break leading 40-38 thanks in large part to hitting 7-of-12 from 3-point range. They ended the day 11-of-23 from beyond the arc, with both Djuricic and Towns hitting three apiece.

Notes to Know
• Morgan's 16 points gives him 1,462, moving him past Ivy League Player of the Year Louis Dale '10 for third on the school's career scoring list..
• He now has 446 points on the season, moving him into the top 20 on Cornell's single-season list at No. 19.
• Harvard is now 7-1 in its last eight games in Ithaca.
• Gettings now has three 30-point games this season, tying for the second-most by a Cornell player in a single season (Morgan has two 30-poiint games in two different seasons).
• The Big Red is 6-2 this season when it finds a third double figure scorer, but just 2-9 when it doesn't.
• For the second straight game, Cornell was not credited with a blocked shot.
• Cornell's last four Division I games at Newman Arena have all been decided by three points or less (2-2).

Next Up
• The Big Red hits the road next weekend for contests at Brown (Friday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.) on ESPN3 and Yale (Saturday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m.).