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Cornell Men Clinch Second Straight Title
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Courtesy: Cornell Athletic Communications
ITHACA, N.Y. -- For the second straight year, the Cornell
men's basketball team became the first team to punch its ticket to the NCAA
tournament with an outright Ivy League title, earning a dominant 83-58 win over
pernnial Ivy contender Penn on Friday evening at Newman Arena. The Big Red's
win, coupled with Princeton's 58-44 loss at Columbia, gave the preseason Ivy
League favorite its second consecutive Ancient Eight title. Cornell improves
to 20-9 (10-3 Ivy), while the Quakers slipped to 9-17 (5-7 Ivy).
The win gives Cornell its fourth NCAA tournament bid and overall conference
title in the program's history. It also extended its school-record home win
streak to 20 games, the third-longest active stretch in the country. Among the
other highlights was the program's third 20-win season all-time (first-ever
stretch of consecutive 20-win seasons) and its second consecutive 10-win Ancient
Eight campaign, a first since the 1964-65 to 1966-67 seasons.
Junior Ryan Wittman, a favorite for Ivy League Player of the Year, had a statement
game with 25 points, three rebounds and two blocked shots while hitting 6-of-10
from 3-point range. He was one of four players to reach double figures in scoring,
joining Louis Dale (13), Chris Wroblewski (12) and Alex Tyler (11). The Big
Red shot 76 percent in the second half (19-of-25) to end the game at 58 percent,
and held the Quakers to 38 percent shooting overall on the defensive end. Jeff
Foote added eight points, nine rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers in
25 minutes.
Along the way, Cornell broke last season's team record for 3-pointers in a season
with its nine makes on the night, giving the squad 231, surpassing the 228 it
hit in the 2007-08 season. The Big Red also became the first-ever Ivy League
program to win consecutive league titles other than Penn or Princeton in the
history of the conference.
Penn got 16 points from Rob Belcore, while both Brennan Votel and Zack Rosen
added 10. Harrison Gaines had a solid all-around effort with eight points, seven
rebounds and six assists and Kevin Egee chipped in seven points.
The Quakers came to play early, and Penn's hot shooting allowed it to get out
of the gates quickly, forcing a Cornell timeout just 2:08 into the game when
the visitors got out to a 7-2 advantage. The Quakers held the advantage much
of the first half, wit hthe Big Red evening the game at 12-12 on a jumper by
Dale, only to see Penn go back up with a quick 8-0 run fueled by 3-pointers
by Belcore and Rosen. The game would be tied up at 20-20 as Cornell went on
an 8-0 spurt of its own as Dale hit three driving layups during the spurt, including
a floater in the lane. Cornell took its first lead of the game with 3:31 ledt
when Foote scored on a putback to make it 28-26, and a Wroblewski 3-pointer
off a broken play pushed the lead to five. Three late points by Tyler, including
a layup on a play drawn up for the last possession sent the home team into the
break up 34-28.
Both Dale (11 points) and Wittman (10 points) were in double figures by the
break, while Foote had eight rebounds and Tyler five as Cornell held a 20-16
edge on the backboards. Cornell had just three turnovers at the break to help
the team overcome 43 percent shooting from the floor. Rosen had seven points
and three rebounds, but the Ivy League's leader in assists and assist:turnover
ratio was held without a helper while committing a pair of turnovers.
The Big Red opened the second half with a well-designed play that saw Dale hit
Wittman for a wide-open 3-pointer just 10 seconds in. Wittman then hit a tough
pull-up jumper, followed by a layup underneath by Tyler on a great interior
pass by Foote to make it 41-30. A Foote dunk on a pass from senior Jason Battle
three minutes later pushed the Cornell lead back to nine after the Quakers had
cut it to six.
While Cornell was starting to open its lead, Columbia had taken an eight-point
lead with eight minutes to play against Princeton, and the buzz started building
in the student section across from the benches. With the energy building, Cornell
took control at the 11-minute mark. With a 49-41 lead after a pair of Gaines
free throws, the Big Red went on a 21-5 run over the next six minutes to blow
open the contest. Wittman hit three backbreaking treys during the spree to extend
the lead to 24 and never looked back. Head coach Steve Donahue sent his seniors
in to play together with a little more than two minutes to play and pulled them
out to a standing ovation a minute later. The crowd again went bonkers when
junior Andre Wilkins hit a 12-foot jumper to cap the scoring with 30 seconds
to play. The ball went out of play as the clock expired and the student section
spilled out onto the court. With the entire capacity crowd on the floor, Cornell's
players took turns cutting down the nets on its home floor for the second straight
year.
Cornell will close its regular season tomorrow when it meets Princeton (12-13,
7-5 Ivy) tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena. Prior to the game, the Big Red
will honor its five seniors, Jason Battle, Khaliq Gant, Adam Gore, Brian Kreefer
and Conor Mullen.
