NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. -- Career scoring highs from Cooper Noard (20) and Adam Hinton (12) and a gritty performance on the boards lifted the Cornell men's basketball team to an 84-68 victory over Iona on Monday evening at Hynes Center. The Big Red improved to 4-2, while the Gaels slipped to 1-5.

Noard led four double-figure scorers with 20 points, Jake Fiegen added 15, Hinton scored 12 off the bench and Guy Ragland Jr. added 11 points to go along with his eight rebounds in the victory. Nazir Williams chipped in seven points, five assists and three rebounds and AK Okereke finished with six points, six rebounds and eight assists. In all, the Big Red assisted on 22 of its 27 baskets and shot 48 percent for the day. Maybe most impressively, Cornell ended the contest with a 37-36 edge on the glass against an Iona team that entered the game leading the nation in offensive rebounds and were outrebounding opponents by nine per game.

DeJour Reaves led the Gaels with 19 points and five rebounds, with Adam Njie Jr. (14 points, six assists, three rebounds). Yaphet Moundi (13 points, nine rebounds, five steals) and Jalen Barr (10 points, four rebounds) also reaching double figures. The Gaels shot 40 percent from the floor for the game and 19 percent from beyond the arc (4-of-21).

FIRST HALF
• Hinton scored a career-high 12 points in the first half to spark the Big Red as it took a 45-39 lead over the Gaels at the break.
• Noard also scored 10, with the two double figure scorers combining to go 11-for-11 from the free-throw line.
• DeJour Reaves and Adam Njie Jr. each had 10 first-half points to lead Iona.
• The Big Red assisted on 13-of-14 baskets in the opening 20 minutes.
• Iona held a decisive 22-10 edge on points in the paint and held a 20-13 edge on the backboards, including 7-2 on the offensive end.
• The Big Red scored five quick points on a backdoor cut by Noard and a 3-pointer by Fiegen on great passes by Ragland and Okereke, respectively. 
• Cornell forced misses on Iona's first five shots, but the Gaels finally got on track and went on a 7-8 spurt to take the lead.
• The Big Red answered back right away with a Noard 3-pointer in transition and led for nearly the entire first half.
• Consecutive 3-pointers by Hinton and Williams put the Big Red up 19-13 and forced an Iona timeout as the Big Red assisted on its seventh consecutive basket to open the game.
• Two straight Iona shots hit every part of the rim and went down to get the home team back to within one at 19-18.
• Kiachian's tough basket in the lane as the shot clock was running down gave the Big Red a 28-23 edge at the under-8 media timeout.
• The Big Red's starting backcourt of Williams and Fiegen both had a pair of fouls by the seven-minute mark and sat out the rest of the half. 
• Four free throws by Hinton extended lead to 36-29 and then went to 39-31 after Nix hit a corner trey.
• Hinton then connected on a 3-pointer off a great look from Jacob Beccles to make it 45-37, but Iona scored just before the buzzer to make it a six-point contest heading into the locker room.

SECOND HALF
• Cornell controlled the second half, going on an early run and leading nearly the entire way by double digits, going up by as many as 20 as its defense and timely shooting put the game away.
• An offensive putback by Okereke and consecutive 3-pointers by Noard gave the Big Red its biggest lead of the night (53-41) and forced an Iona timeout less than two minutes into the second half.
• A great defensive stop by the Big Red led to a run-out in transition and a great feed from Williams to Ragland on the break for a dunk to push it to 14.
• Kiachian hit a cutting Fiegen on a pass for an acrobatic layup and a free throw to push its lead to 60-44 with 16:11 remaining as part of a 15-5 run to start the half.
• Five straight by Iona got the lead to 11 (60-49), but Ragland splashed a 3-pointer off an out of bounds play and the Big Red took back momentum.
• Cornell fought through an Iona three-foul possession as the Gaels picked up the intensity to score a pair on Ragland free throws, then after a defensive stop, was fouled once again trying to bring the ball up the court.
• A Jacob Beccles driving layup with eight minutes remaining pushed the Big Red advantage to 20 points (75-55)
• Iona spurted with nine straight points to get back within 75-64 at the six-minute mark as Cornell went scoreless for more than three minutes until Fiegen knocked down his fourth and the team's 13th 3-pointer of the night with five minutes remaining.
• The Big Red went into the final media timeout with a 78-66 lead and with Okereke shooting two.
• Though the visitors turned the ball over a couple times in the final minutes, Iona couldn't get anything going.

UP NEXT
• Cornell will head up I-81 to renew its series with Syracuse on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. at the JMA Wireless Dome.
• The contest will be broadcast live on the ACC Network.
• The Big Red will attempt to snap a 43-game losing streak to the Orange dating back to the 1968-69 campaign, unofficially the fourth-longest streak in NCAA history (the NCAA does not recognize four SU wins that were later vacated and has stopped the official streak at 36.
• Cornell is 0-29 in the Dome against the Orange (1-30 overall).