ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's basketball team shot 63 percent after halftime and 57 percent for the game against one of the Ivy League stingiest defenses to move to 7-0 at home after a 76-61 victory over Harvard on Saturday afternoon at Newman Arena. The Big Red improved to 10-6 (2-3 Ivy), while Harvard fell to 10-6 (2-2 Ivy) with the loss.

The Big Red outscored Harvard 44-24 after halftime and dominated the paint, outrebounding the Crimson by 19 (39-20) and outscoring the visitors 36-10 in the paint. The Big Red also didn't allow Harvard to score a second chance point, allowing just five offensive rebounds on 40 misses. Cornell put four players in double figures led by Jordan Jones with 18 points in his return to action after missing the last five games due to injury. He added four rebounds and three assists. Sarju Patel added 14 points and six rebounds, Dean Noll had 13 to go along with five rebounds and four assists, and Chris Manon notched 10 with three rebounds, three assists and two steals. The Big Red defense limited Harvard to 36 percent shooting overall and the offense was credited with 20 assists.

Noah Kirkwood led the Crimson with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists and Louis Lesmond had 14 with Sam Silverstein chipping in 10 off the bench. Harvard had 12 steals, nine in the first half, while forcing the Big Red into 21 turnovers. 

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak overall for the Big Red. Sean Hansen added seven points and four boards, including a pair of key second half buckets to keep the Big Red out front, while Marcus Filien, Max Samberg, Nazir Williams, Guy Ragland Jr. and Kobe Dickson all provided defensive contributions against a usually efficient Harvard offense. 

SECOND HALF SURGE. @CUBigRedHoops used a strong second half to top Harvard, 76-61. The Big Red shot 63.0 percent from the field and 58.3 percent from 3-point range in the second stanza. 🌿🏀 pic.twitter.com/aamMLb65Ir

— The Ivy League (@IvyLeague) January 22, 2022

FIRST HALF

• Harvard went into the locker room with a 37-32 lead after a sloppy first 20 minutes.
• Cornell turned the ball over 13 times with the Crimson collecting nine steals, with Kale Catching grabbing three in just eight minutes of court time.
• Manon had eight of his points in the first half, with the Big Red staying in the game thanks to its 10-of-12 effort at the free-throw line and its 16-4 edge in paint scoring.
• Though no Big Red player had more than three first half rebounds, Cornell held a 18-10 edge on the glass.
• Kirkwood led Harvard with 12 points, with he and Luka Sakota each hitting three 3-pointers over the first 20 minutes.
• Cornell opened the scoring with a Keller Boothby 3-pointer, but Harvard answered with a 12-0 run to go up nine five minutes into the game thanks to three early Big Red turnovers.
• The home team settled down and answered with a 11-0 run of its own, punctuated with a run-out layup by Noll on a feed from Jordan Jones.
• Neither team was up by more than a bucket for nearly 10 minutes, trading the lead seven times before back-to-back treys by Sakota gave the Crimson a 29-25 edge with 3:44 to play in the half.
• Cornell tied the score at 30-30 with just over two minutes remaining on a floater in the lane, but Lesmond canned a 3-pointer on the other end and the Crimson wouldn't surrender the lead, going into the locker room up five.
 

SECOND HALF

• Cornell caught the Crimson three minutes into the second half on a 3-pointer by Sarju Patel, as the senior scored the first five after the break for the Big Red.
• The 7-0 Big Red run out of the locker room saw Noll finish consecutive fastbreak layups, and his 3-pointer a minute late made it a five-point game.
• Jordan Jones got hot, connecting on three treys in a span of two minutes, then scoring on the break to give Cornell its first double-digit lead (55-44) with 11 minutes to play.
• After Harvard got within 10, Cornell scored six straight, including a 3-pointer by Marcus Filien.
• Filien played 12 productive minutes, especially on the defensive end where he blocked a shot and ripped down four boards.
• Harvard never got closer than 10 the rest of the way, falling behind as many as 19 in the final minutes.
 

NEXT UP

• The Big Red returns to the road and closes out the month when it visits Brown on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 4 p.m. at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
• The Big Red leads the all-time series 81-54 after going 5-2 in the last seven meetings.
• The teams have split the season series each of the last two campaigns.
• Brown has won two straight contests between the teams in Providence by an average of 17.5 points per game.