Despite a sloppy first half, Cornell was able to pull away to a 71-59 victory in their Ivy League opener behind the sharp shooting of Louis Dale and the aggressive play of Chris Wroblewski and Alex Tyler.
Check in with Sam Aleinikoff and Jake Mastbaum as Ryan Wittman, Coach Donahue, Coach Boeheim, Paul Harris and many more give you some post game analysis of Cornell Men’s Basketball’s loss at Syracuse 88-78.
What happens when you win your first NCAA Tourney bid in 20 years? This. Check out the madness.
Cornell Students storm the court after the Cornell Big Red Basketball team clinches a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years.
Dance Party: Cornell Claims First NCAA Tourney Bid In 20 Years
Box Score
ITHACA, N.Y. — It was a night 20 years in the making and eight years in production. On the night Cornell clinched its first outright Ivy League title since 1988, Steve Donahue saw everything he might have envisioned when he took the Big Red head coaching job eight years ago. With a sold-out Newman Arena crowd backing an undefeated championship team, the Cornell men’s basketball program became the first Division I men’s team to clinch a berth in the 2007-08 NCAA tournament with an 86-53 victory over Harvard on Saturday evening.
The victory clinches the fifth outright conference title in school history, joining the 1912-13, 1913-14 and 1953-54 EIBL championship squads and the 1987-88 Ivy title-winning team. It will also make Cornell a three-time NCAA tournament qualifier, previously competing in the championships in 1953-54 and 1987-88. Cornell improved to 20-5 with the win, matching the 1950-51 squad for most wins in a season (20). The team also extended its win streak overall to 14 games, the second-longest active winning stretch in the country, and ended a 19-year run of Penn and Princeton dominating the Ivy League landscape.
After needing a near miracle finish in the first meeting between the teams just 15 days ago, the Big Red played arguably its most complete game of the season in methodically picking apart the Crimson. Cornell shot 56 percent from the floor and placed five in double figures offensively with 16 assists and just nine turnovers, while holding the Crimson to 24 percent shooting, including a 5-of-21 night from the 3-point arc, and had seven steals and seven blocked shots.
Junior Adam Gore had a team-high 14 points, including hitting four 3-pointers, while sophomore Ryan Wittman added 13 points and six rebounds and classmate Louis Dale had 12 points and eight assists in the victory. Sophomore Andre Wilkins hit all four of his field goals for 11 points in just six minutes of action and junior Jeff Foote rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points, seven rebounds and a career-best four blocked shots. On Senior Night, the Big Red’s lone senior was outstanding as Jason Hartford notched eight points, six rebounds, a block and a steal after being honored in a pregame ceremony.
Cornell was never in danger in the second half as anticipation built throughout the night with a frenzied crowd ready to celebrate an invitation to the biggest event in college sports. The Big Red led by more than 25 points throughout the final 20 minutes, and as the horn sounded, the Newman nation student section stormed the court as the Cornell team cut down the nets.
Harvard got 10 points from Brad Unger and nine points from Evan Harris, Andrew Pusar and Dan McGeary. Drew Housman notched eight points for the Crimson, who slipped to 8-20 (3-9 Ivy).
As has been the case for much of the Ivy season, the challenger burst out of the gates on fire, taking an early five-point lead on two occasions before Cornell tied the game at 11-11. A layup by Foote on a pass from Dale gave the home team what would be the go-ahead basket for the Big Red. Harvard went to inbounds the ball after the basket, but it was intercepted by Geoff Reeves, who put in the goal for a four-point lead. That triggered a 34-9 run the rest of the half, with consecutive 3-pointers by Wittman over the span of 38 seconds pushing the lead over 20 with two minutes to play. A Gore trey, his third of the half, and a layup by Dale pushed the advantage to 25 (45-20) at the break.
The second half wasn’t much different, as the Big Red was able to get its reserves in for much of the final nine minutes. The Crimson went to a full-court trap early i nthe half trying to create some havoc, but Cornell had little trouble finding open shooters, and a 3-pointer by Wittman and a jumper by Dale increased the lead to 30 with 1:23 into the second half. The lead never went below 24 the rest of the way. All 15 players on the active roster played at least four minutes with 13 finding the scoring column.
Cornell returns to action on Friday, March 7 at 8 p.m. when the Big Red faces Penn in a game that will be televised on CN8. The Big Red will be out to snap an 18-game losing skid to the Quakers at the Palestra when the two teams meet.
ITHACA, N.Y. — The sophomore tandem of Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman combined for 49 points and 15 rebounds to help Cornell snap an 18-game losing streak to Penn, topping the three-time defending Ivy League champions 87-74 on Saturday evening in front of a sold-out Newman Arena. With the win, Cornell remained unbeaten in league play at 6-0 and bumped its record to 14-5. Penn slipped to 7-14 (2-2 Ivy) with the loss.
Wittman had a career-high 25 points and added six rebounds, including hitting four second half treys that turned the tide, and Dale added a career-high 24 points to go along with nine rebounds and four assists in the victory. Cornell shot 49 percent from the floor and made 27-of-29 free throws in collecting the victory. Adam Gore chipped in with 14 points, including a perfect 8-of-8 day at the charity stripe. Cornell held a 36-31 edge on the backboards and hit 10 3-pointers while shooting 59 percent from beyond the arc. The 6-0 start is Cornell’s first in Ivy League play since the 1964-65 squad opened its Ancient Eight season with 11 consecutive wins.
The victory extended several streaks, including givign the program its first eight-game win streak since the 1987-88 Ivy title-winning team took home 11 consecutive triumphs. The Big Red also improved to 8-1 at home this season as 4,473 fans watched the win. The game marked Cornell’s first sellout since that same number appeared at a 69-64 loss to Princeton on Feb. 13, 2004.
Andreas Schreiber netted 23 points and ripped down nine boards to lead the Penn attack, while freshman guard Harrison Gaines had an impressive 19-point, seven-assist, zero-turnover effort off the bench. Brian Grandieri posted 12 points as the third Quaker in double figures. Penn shot 45 percent for the game, but connected on just 11-of-19 from the line in the loss.
While not its sharpest game, Cornell made big plays down the stretch when it counted. After a five-point halftime lead was cut to two on a Remy Cofield trey just 40 seconds into the second half to make it 41-39, Wittman hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions to push the edge back to 11. The lead eventually grew to 15 (65-50) with 10:05 left before Penn made a final run, going on a 19-6 spurt that got the visitors to within 71-69 with 4:35 left when Jack Eggleston hit a trey. Again, Wittman had the answer. The sophomore dribbled around a screen and pulled up fro mthe top of the key for his fourth and final 3-pointer of the second half. A turnover by Penn turned into a bucket by Jeff Foote, and a missed jumper on the other end turned into two Dale free throws. When Foote passed up a layup to find Gore for a 3-pointer with 2:24 left, the lead was back to an insurmountable 12 points (81-69).
Despite battling foul trouble, sophomore forward Alex Tyler made all four of his shots from the floor for nine points and added four boards in just 17 minutes. Senior forward Jason Hartford also scored seven points and Foote had five points, eight rebounds and three assists without a turnover to account for Cornell’s post efforts.
Like opponents have nearly the entire Ivy season, Penn gave Cornell an early shot, jumping out to a 9-5 edge. In a half that would eventually see seven ties and seven lead changes, the Big Red eventually pulled out to a seven-point lead after a 3-pointer by Wittman and two free throws on the next possession made it 41-34 with 45 seconds left before the break. Penn’s Justin Reilly took a feed from Brian Grandieri and swished a jumper 10 seconds later to cut the deficit to five at 41-36, which would prove to be the halftime score.
Dale with 12 points and five rebounds led Cornell, while Schreiber had 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 16 productive minutes to lead the Quakers. Gaines added nine points and three assists in 13 minutes off the pine for the Quakers, who shot 50 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
Cornell returns to action on Friday, Feb. 15 when it faces Harvard at 7 p.m. at Lavietes Pavillion.
Cornell Men's Basketball at Syracuse, 12/3/08 : 
Cornell Football vs. Princeton - 11/1/08 Radio Broadcast Part 2: 
