ITHACA, N.Y. -- For the first time in 60 years, the Cornell men's basketball team is 4-0.

All 16 Cornell players dressed got into the scoring column and the Big Red rewrote the school's record book in a 107-48 victory over Division III foe Wells College on Friday evening at Newman Arena. It cemented Cornell's first perfect start after four games since 1961.

Cornell led by 28 at the half and cruised as no player saw more than senior Max Samberg's 16 minutes of action. The Big Red's 107 points rank as the seventh-most in a single game in school history, while its 43 field goals made (third), 63 rebounds (second) and 30 assists (second) all rank in the top 10. The home team dominated all the miscellaneous and hustle stats - 69-16 in bench scoring, 34-4 on fastbreaks, 30-3 on second chance points and 56-12 in the paint. Cornell had more offensive rebounds (27) than Wells had total boards (23).

Leading scorers Jordan Jones (11 points, four rebounds, two assists) and Chris Manon (10 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals) were joined in double figurees by freshman Guy Ragland Jr. (11 points, six rebounds), with sophomore Sean Hansen narrowly missing his first double-double with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Darius Ervin had nine points in his collegiate debut, while Chris Cain added seven in his. Both senior Max Samberg and junior Chuks Uzoka scored their first collegiate field goals.

Look up and down the box score, and everyone did something positive. Kobe Dickson had five points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots and Greg Dolan chopped in seven points with two assists. Sarju Patel chipped in five points and four rebounds, Keller Boothby notched five points, two rebounds and two steals. Dean Noll was credited with five points and two steals. Nazir Williams had eight points, three steals and two assists. Isaiah Gray had seven points and a career-best six assists. Marcus Filien posted four points, six rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal. 


But more than all of those stats, from beginning to end, the Big Red was locked in as a team on the bench, even if they were ragged early on the court while trying to over-share the basketball.

Ransel Rodriguez led Wells wth nine points, while Jarek Feliz had seven to go along with four boards. The Big Red defense limited Wells to 28 percent shooting on the night and forced 21 turnovers with 13 steals. The Express connected on 10 3-ponters with both Logan Jacobs and Dylan Perry hitting two apiece.
 

First Half

• Wells' Logan Jacobs hit a 3-pointer less than a minute into the game to give the visitors the lead, but that would be the high point of the night.
• Cornell launched out on a 9-0 run on the strength of baskets from four different players and never looked back.
• The home team took its first double-digit lead of the night whe Nazir Williams connected on a 3-pointer on a feed from Isaiah Gray to make it 19-8 just over seven minutes in.
• Leading 33-19 with six minutes to play in the half, Cornell 18-4 run all but ended Wells' chances of getting back in the game.
• Five straight points from Keller Boothby and three consecutive driving baskets by Chris Manon helped Cornell get to halftime with a 53-25 lead.
• The Big Red assisted on 16 of 20 first half baskets and posted 10 steals to get out quickly over the Express.
 

Second Half

• The second half was much like the first, with a 9-0 run out of the gates pushing the lead to 37.
• The Big Red bench did most of the second half damage, with Darius Ervin's three 3-pointers and Chris Cain and Guy Ragland's seven points led the way as Cornell got 43 points from its reserves over the final 20 minutes.
• Cain's putback with three minutes to play pushed the Big Red to the 100-point mark for the 25th time in school history.
• Chuks Uzoka got his first career points on a dunk with under a minute left to cap the scoring.
• Cornell shot 59 percent from the floor after halftime.
 

Up Next

• Cornell will visit Penn State on Monday, Nov. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the Byrce Jordan Center in University Park, Pa.
• The Big Red have met the Nittany Lions four times since 2005 in non-conference play with PSU claiming all four wins, including a buzzer-beating win in 2014 at the Charleston Classic (72-71).
• The two teams last met on Dec. 29, 2019 - a 9059 Penn State win.
• Penn State leads the all-time series 7-5, with Cornell last win coming in a 74-65 victory in Ithaca on Dec. 5, 1972.