ITHACA, N.Y. -- All five starters reached double figures as Cornell remained unbeaten at Newman Arena with an 88-83 victory over Princeton on Friday evening. The Big Red improved to 12-6 (4-3 Ivy), while the Tigers slipped to 15-5 (5-2 Ivy) after entering the night in first place in the Ivy League standings.

Chris Manon scored a career high 22 points along with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals as Cornell shot 51 percent from the floor as a team led by the sophomore's 10-of-15 shooting night. Dean Noll added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists, and both Kobe Dickson and Sarju Patel notched 13 points and six boards. Keller Boothby rounded out the Big Red's double figure scorers with 10 points, including a critical go-ahead 3-pointer with under 90 seconds to play. The Big Red held a 39-32 edge on the glass.

Princeton got huge games from Tosan Evbuomwan I27 points, seven rebounds, five steals, four assists) and Ethan Wright (26 points, eight rebounds), but the rest of the lineup contributed just 30 points on 10-of-32 shooting. 

In a game that featured 13 lead changes and 12 ties, it wasn't 3-point shooting that made a difference in a battle between two of the top teams in that area in the country. The teams combined to make just 13-of-49 from beyond the arc, but feasted in the paint. In fact, a rarity for both teams, less than 50 percent of the baskets were assisted in the contest as teams attacked the rim when the shots weren't falling. Both teams did make treys, extending decades-long streaks. FOr Cornell, it was the 905th consecutive game with a 3-pointer.   

FIRST HALF

• Neither team led by my than four points over the game's first frenetic 15 minutes that saw Cornell lead 35-33.
• A pair of Kobe Dickson free throws and a reverse layup by Dean Noll on a great backdoor feed from Chris Manon pushed the advantage to six entering the final media timeout.
• Manon (10) and Noll (nine) combined for 19 of the Big Red points as the home team led 46-40 entering the break. Ethan Wright had 16 points and five boards at halftime, hitting 7-of-9 shots for the Tigers, while Evbuomwan had 13 with four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
• Cornell's dominance on the glass (23-14) helped it overcome eight first half turnovers that led to nine Tiger points.
• The two teams combined to shoot just 5-of-29 from beyond the arc with the Big Red missing its first eight attempts.
• Dickson had eight points and five boards at the break.
 

SECOND HALF

• Cornell set the tone out of the break, getting a pair of defensive stops and scoring on the other end, the first on a layup by Sarju Patel and the second on a tough jumper by Keller Boothby to make it a 10-point game (50-40) just over a minute into the second half.
• The lead was back to 10 at 72-62 with 10:34 remaining when Patel built up a head of steam and finished a tough floater off glass.
• For another six minutes, each time Princeton made a basket Cornell answered with one of its own, at least until the visitors hit five straight free throws to knot the game at 81-81 with 2:33 left.
• Jaelin Llewellyn hit the final three after Kobe Dickson was called for a foul on a 3-point attempt, fouling out the Big Red captain.
• The 7-0 Princeton run gave Princeton the lead back when Llewellyn hit a pull-up jumper in the lane with two minutes to play.
• Boothby, who was 1-for-5 from beyond the arc, hit his second 3-pointer of the night with 1:28 to play after Dean Noll grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it back out to the wide open sophomore.
• Cornell got three late stops and hit 4-of-6 from throws in the final 34 seconds to earn the win.
 

NEXT UP

• Cornell will close out the annual Princeton-Penn weekend against the Quakers on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• The Big Red will attempt to split the season series after suffering a 79--65 defeat at the Palestra on Jan. 7.
• Penn leads the all-time series 160-75.