ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell defense hounded Brown all night and the offense was efficient right from the tip as the Big Red led nearly wire-to-wire to claim a 63-45 victory over the Bears on Saturday evening at Newman Arena. The win allowed the Big Red to improve to 6-17 (3-7 Ivy), while the Bears fell to 13-10 (6-4 Ivy).

Junior Bryan Knapp led the Big Red on both ends of the floor, scoring a career high 17 points and added six rebounds, three assists and three steals while limiting Brown's leading scorer, Brandon Anderson, to seven points on 3-of-13 shooting. The conference's second leading scorer shot just 4-of-31 from the field in two contests against the Big Red this season. In addition, Terrance McBride hit 6-of-7 shots from the floor for 17 points and Kobe Dickson had 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks as part of a career night. Offensively, Cornell shot 51 percent from the floor and hit on 6-of-9 3-pointers and limited the Bears to 26 percent shooting on the night, 20 percent after halftime, and 17 percent from beyond the arc (4-of-23).

Tamenang Choh had 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists with Jaylen Gainey adding 11 points and five boards to lead the Bears. Zach Hunsaker added nine points and four boards in the loss.

Hunsaker hit two free throws a little less than five minutes into the game to put Brown up 10-9, but Knapp hit a pull-up jumper 23 seconds later and Cornell never trailed again. That basket triggered a 13-0 Cornell run as Brown went scoreless over a span of 9:05 and the Big Red never allowed the Bears to cut the deficit to fewer than six the rest of the way. Cornell led by double figures for the final 19:21.

First Half

• Sophomore Kobe Dickson set the tone with a a pair of buckets in the first 2:12 of the game as Cornell led 6-3 early.
• Bryan Knapp scored seven of his own in the first five minutes and his pull-up jumper 5:09 in gave the Big Red the lead for good at 11-10.
• The Big Red embarked on a 13-0 run, holding the Bears scoreless for more than nine minutes to take control.
• A driving basket by freshman Greg Dolan midway through the first made it 22-10.
• Dickson found Dean Noll for a layup with under five minutes to play before the half to give Cornell its biggest lead of the night at 28-14.
• An 8-0 Brown run got the visitors back tro within 28-22, but 3-pointers by McBride and Knapp late in the period allowed Cornell to go into the break with a 35-25 edge.
• Knapp had 12 first half points and McBride added nine as Cornell connected on 59 percent of its shots, including 4-of-6 beyond the arc.
• Choh led Brown with 10 of the team's 25 points.
 

Second Half

• The Big Red scored the first seven points of the second half and never looked back, holding the Bears without a field goal over the first 5:32 out of the locker room.
• Brown got within 11 after Hunsaker scored on the break after a look-ahead by Choh with 14 minutes left, but four quick ones by the Big Red - including a fastbreak layup by Dickson to put him in double figures for the first time in his career - gave Cornell the momentum back.
• Cornell's lead grew to as many as 22 (61-39) after a pair of Josh Warren free throws with under three minutes to play. 
• Brown was held to 6-of-30 shooting overall and 1-of-15 from beyond the 3-point line after halftime as the Big Red defense also forced five turnovers in the second 20 minutes. 
 

Up Next

• Cornell remains home next weekend starting with a meeting with Dartmouth on Friday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Dave Kudgus and Barry Leonard on the call.
• Cornell leads the all-time series 112-107, including winning 26 of the last 33 contests overall.
• The Big Red will attempt to salvage a season split with the Big Green after its six-game win streak in the series was snapped on Feb. 15 in Hanover.