ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's basketball team improved to 3-0 for the first time since 1996 after wearing Colgate out in the second half en route to a 78-68 victory on Tuesday evening at Newman Arena. Cornell had three players reach double figures in scoring and eight notch at least eight points in moving to 3-0. The Raiders, the defending Patriot League champions, fell to 1-2 with the loss.

Cornell trailed by as many as 12 in the first half and led by as many as 16 after halftime as the Big Red threw waves of players and pressure at the Raiders, causing the visitors to shoot 1-of-15 from beyond the arc after the break and 6-of-32 for the game. 

Jordan Jones netted a team-high 14 points, while Sean Hansen had a career-high 11 with three assists and Keller Boothby scored 10 with nine boards. Nazir Williams had nine, Dean Noll scored seven with four rebounds and three assists and three players had six apiece, including Kobe Dickson who added eight boards. No Cornell player played more than 25 minutes, and the Big Red bench outscored Colgate's by a dominant 42-10 mark with a 22-8 edge in fastbreak points. 

Cornell didn't need to shoot the lights out to snap a four-game Colgate win streak in the series, shooting 43 percent overall and just 24 percent (6-of-25) from beyond the arc.

The Raiders got 20 points from Nelly Cummings, while Jack Ferguson scored 13 and Tucker Richardson had 11. Keegan Records was credited with seven points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots, while Oliver Lynch-Daniels had four points, five rebounds and five assists.
   

First Half

• Colgate jumped out to a 9-0 lead 2:18 into the contest and never trailed in the first 20 minutes, but was only able to take a two-point edge into the break (38-36).
• The Raiders led 23-12 after Ferguson nailed a trey seven minutes in, then pushed it to 12 (35-23) when he hit another 3-pointer with four minutes left.
• The visitors still led by 10 (37-27) with 1:48 to go in the half when Cummings hit a pull-up jumper for his 11th point of the day.
• Cornell responded with a 9-1 run to end the half that featured a 3-pointer by Guy Ragland Jr. for his first collegiate points and a driving layup by Greg Dolan just before the halftime buzzer to bring Cornell within two at the break.
• The Big Red turned the ball over six times, was outrebounded (22-21) and made just 3-of-13 from beyond the arc, but set the pace for the second half.
 

Second Half

• After two scoreless minutes after halftime, Cornell launched into a second half run.
• It started quietly enough with a Sarju Patel driving layup after a Greg Dolan steal led by Chris Manon finding the streaking senior to knot the game at 38-38.
• Cornell took its first lead of the night a minute later when Sean Hansen hit the second of two free throws, and after a Manon steal, the sophomore raced in for his first collegiate dunk.
• The Big Red's lead was 52-47 when it embarked on 17-6 run over the span of 4:15 to go up 69-53 with under four minutes remaining.
• Hansen hit a 3-pointer and got a tough running drive to go down, and Dean Noll connected on a three-point play and Kobe Dickson muscled in a hook shot during the run.
• The Raiders got the lead to single digits twice in the final 76 seconds, but Cornell hit 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch, four by Boothby, to close out the win.
• The Big Red's edge in depth showed over the final 20 minutes, as Cornell held decisive 30-6 edge in bench scoring and 15-4 in fastbreak situations.
 

Up Next

• Cornell will play first-time opponent Wells College on Friday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Barry Leonard and Eric Taylor '05 on the call.
• Wells is a Division III institution located 26 miles away in Aurora, N.Y. and are part of the Northeast Athletic Conference (NEAC).