|
Cornell beat Colgate Wednesday night in Hamilton 64-53. Cornell won by playing great fundamental basketball and nailing 17 of 18 foul shots. Colgate couldn’t score consistently and shot an abysmal 36.7 percent from the field.
Both teams looked out of sync in the first half, combining for 15 points in the first ten minutes. The Big Red struggled out of the gate, shooting 1-of-7 to start. Aggressive defense by Marc Daniels in the paint yielded three early blocks and low-percentage shots from Cornell, as Colgate jumped out to a 9-2 lead early. Cornell then switched from a man-to-man to a zone defense, which stifled Colgate’s halfcourt offense. The zone held Colgate scoreless for seven-plus minutes in the first half, as Cornell then rattled off a 21-5 run. Colgate had a hard time getting any offensive rhythm; Jon Simon seemed to be the only Raider able to score in the first half, posting 11 of Colgate’s 17 first-half points. Despite the offensive woes for the Raiders, Cornell shot 35.7 percent from the field. The Big Red only led by six at the half.
Colgate came out of the break in a full court press. Simon continued to shoot well, hitting a three and pulling Colgate to within one possession early in the second half. Colgate had a hard time slowing down the Big Red’s leading scorer, freshman Ryan Wittman. Wittman hit his first two three-point attempts in the second half, as Cornell expanded its lead to nine with 11:34 left in the game.
Simon answered back with a three of his own, giving him 17 points with over 10 minutes left in the game. Despite shooting better in the second half, Cornell was never able to build a substantial enough lead to put the game away. Colgate was aided by productive minutes from Alex Woodhouse off the bench, scoring seven with 7:15 remaining. With 6:50 left to play Colgate was down by five. Simon, for the second time, was fouled while shooting from beyond the arc. Simon hit his three shots to pull the Raiders within two.
After a Big Red basket, Willy Morse hit a three-pointer to close the lead to one. After a Cornell miss, Kendall Chones was fouled and hit both of his shots to retake the lead, 46-45. Unfortunately for the Raiders, the lead was short-lived, as Cornell quickly regained control. Colgate again went cold again on the offensive end and the Big Red took advantage, sinking two more threes to put the game out of reach.
|
