PRINCETON, N.J. -- Seniors Nazir Williams (28) and Guy Ragland Jr. (22) both scored career highs and Cornell's big second half allowed men's basketball to earn an 85-76 victory over the Tigers on Saturday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. The Big Red improved to 11-6 (3-1 Ivy), while the Tigers fell to 14-5 (3-1 Ivy) with both teams a game behind 4-0 Yale in the conference standings.

Cornell continued its road success with a sixth-straight win away from home - and snapping a seven-game Princeton win streak in the process. The formula this time - a fast start, a resilient middle and a brilliant finish.

After struggling offensively in the first half, the Big Red shot 68 percent from the field after halftime and scored 49 points, but it was the late defense that made the difference.

Cornell forced the Tigers to miss 9-of-10 shots to end the game, with junior AK Okereke blocking consecutive Xaivian Lee shots in the final two minutes to allow the Big Red to extend the lead and put the game out of reach. 

Williams hit 8-of-12 shots overall and chipped in five rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block while connecting ion 4-of-6 3-pointers on the night. Ragland Jr. hit on 5-of-10 3-pointers, including four straight in the second half, to go along with eight rebounds in the win. AK Okereke was the third double figure scorer with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Sophomore Jake Fiegen netted nine points and ripped down eight rebounds while collecting two of the team's eight steals.
 

Cornell shot 48 percent overall, including hitting 11-of-27 3-pointers, and cashed in from the free throw line on 28-of-34 attempts for 82 percent. 

Princeton's Caden Pierce scored 20 points and ripped down 10 rebounds along with five assists, with Blake Peters scoring 20 off the bench in 35 minutes. Lee scored 19 with four rebounds, three assist sand three steals, but the Tigers as a whole shot just 37 percent as a team.

The Big Red took a big lead early, going up as many as 16 points, but by halftime it was right back to where everyone expected - a one possession game.

The Tigers closed the first half with five straight points and made five of their final six shots of the half to go into the break leading 37-36. That came as Cornell's offense - so reliable all season long - abandoned it in the first half. Cornell shot just 31 percent from the floor and made 5-of-16 3-pointers while turning it over seven times. It did shoot 15-of-16 from the free-throw line to give it the lead and eventually only trail by one.

Williams scored 15 points in the first half with Okereke adding eight, but no other player had more than four. The Tigers held a 20-17 edge on the glass and got 10 points, six boards and three assists from reigning Ivy Player of the Year Pierce. After a slow start, Lee scored eight, including a pair of step-back 3-pointers. In all, the Tigers made 6-of-12 from beyond the arc.

Princeton immediately bumped its lead to six in the opening minutes of the second half, but Cornell answered with a 6-0 run of its own to knot the game and it was on. The teams would play to five ties and nine lead changes over the final 20 minutes as neither team led by more than four points over a 14-minute stretch of the second half. 

Caden Pierce's three-point play with exactly 5:00 remaining gave the home team a 67-65 edge. Ragland Jr. answered with a corner 3-pointer off a feed from Okereke, and then hit another less than a minute later on a find from Williams to go up 71-67. Cornell's defense walled-up on Pierce and forced a miss that was rebounded by Ragland Jr. and the junior was fouled. He drained both free throws to make the lead seven with two minutes to play, eventually upping the advantage to 11.

A quick 5-0 spurt over just five seconds got the home team back to six with 71 seconds left. Williams and Ragland Jr. were both calm in the chaos, both stepping up to the line and knocking down a pair of charity shots before Williams hit two more with 21 seconds left to seal the victory - the first for the senior class at Jadwin Gymnasium.

UP NEXT
• The Big Red begins a three-game conference home stand when it welcomes Dartmouth to Newman Arena on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• Cornell leads the all-time series 117-109 and has won four straight against the Big Green.
• That extends to an 11-3 Big Red advantage over the past seven seasons.
• Cornell won two very different games against Dartmouth last winter, earning a 56-53 triumph on the road and capturing an 89-80 win at home.