Box Score BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The Cornell men's basketball team couldn't find the range from beyond the 3-point arc and fell to Lehigh 71-64 on Thursday night at Stabler Arena. The Big Red slipped to 1-1, while the Mountain Hawks evened their record at 1-1.

The Big Red , who led the nation in 3-pointers per game last season at 12.9, connected on just 5-of-31 from beyond the arc, including 1-of-14 after halftime. In all, the team shot 37 percent in its first defeat of the season.

Cornell led only briefly, midway through the second half, before the Mountain Hawks pulled away on a 15-6 run. That came after the visitors clawed back from a 13-point first half deficit and seemingly had clawed back into the game.

Freshman Quinn Gibson led Cornell with a career-high 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting and added seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks in his second college game. Senior Jacob Beccles also scored 13, going 5-of-5 from the free-throw line, with junior Anthony Nimani adding 10 points.

Edouard Benoit led Lehigh with 18 points, making 3-of-5 from 3-point range, in the Mountain Hawks' home opener. Joshua Ingram scored 16 and Hank Alvey had 14. Before tip-off, Lehigh raised banners for last season's Patriot League championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.

Cornell trailed by as many as 13 in the first half and came all the way back in the second. Beccles converted a three-point play and then scored on a layup to tie the game at 44 with 16:44 to play. Senior Kaspar Sepp's putback with 11:07 left gave Cornell a 50-48 lead, its first of the night. It lasted 85 seconds.

Benoit tied the game with a layup, and Ingram's bucket with 8:57 left put Lehigh ahead for good. The Big Red went 7:16  without a field goal, from Sepp's basket until a Gibson jumper with 3:51 left. In that stretch, Caleb Thomas and Chris Tshibola hit 3-pointers for Lehigh, and Jalen Vazquez's driving layup made it 65-56 with 3:09 to go. Cornell got no closer than seven the rest of the way.

Lehigh opened the game on an 11-0 run that turned a 2-2 tie into a 13-2 lead, with Benoit making two 3-pointers in the spurt. The Mountain Hawks led 19-6 before Nimani scored back-to-back layups and Gibson added another, cutting the deficit to seven.

Benoit's 3-pointer with 6:36 left in the half put Lehigh up 32-19. Cornell answered with a 9-4 finish to the half. Sophomore JJ Sanchez hit back-to-back 3-pointers for his first Division I points, and junior Mateen Rafiq added another trey with 53 seconds left, sending Cornell into halftime down 39-32.

Rafiq opened the second half with a 3-pointer that cut the margin to four. It was the Big Red's last make from deep. Cornell missed its final 13 attempts from beyond the arc.

Lehigh went 20-of-26 at the free-throw line, compared with Cornell's 13-of-18. Alfredo Addesa grabbed nine rebounds, six of them offensive, in nine minutes off the bench.

NOTES

• Lehigh beat Cornell for the first time since a 60-57 win on Nov. 22, 2010. The loss ended the Big Red's three-game winning streak in the series, which Cornell now leads 15-10.
• The loss also snapped Cornell's 14-game winning streak against Patriot League opponents. The Big Red will face two more Patriot League teams this season, hosting Bucknell on Nov. 24 and visiting Colgate on Dec. 5.
• Gibson's 13 points topped his previous career high of four, set in Monday's debut against Pepperdine.
• Sanchez scored six points in six minutes, going 2-of-3 from 3-point range.
• Cornell's 5-of-31 from beyond the arc came three nights after it went 14-of-29 against Pepperdine.

UP NEXT
Cornell returns home to face Division III Keuka on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 2 p.m. at Newman Arena. The game will stream on ESPN+. The Big Red lead the all-time series 2-0, most recently winning 122-64 on Dec. 5, 2021.