Gamecenter: Cornell 73, Dartmouth 64

1st 2nd Final
Cornell (16-5, 8-0 Ivy) 36 37 73
Dartmouth (8-14 1-7 Ivy) 35 28 63
Leede Arena – Hanover, NH Boxscore
 
Keys to the Game
Key sequence With Cornell clinging to a 56-54 lead midway through the second half, the Big Red’s Alex Tyler scored on a putback of a Louis Dale miss. After three empty possessions by each team a scrum broke out at halfcourt as the teams scrambled for a loose ball. Tyler finally came up with the ball in a pile and signalled a quick timeout to save
possession for the Big Red. Coach Steve Donahue made good use of the stop in play, drawing up a play that freed Adam Gore off a screen at the top of the arc for an open three-pointer that gave Cornell its largest lead of the half to that point, 61-54. Dartmouth never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
Key sign it was over Leading, 68-59, with three minutes remaining, Cornell benefited from a pair of free throws by Tyler, 1-of-2 shooting from the line by Dale and Dartmouth’s inability to put the ball in the hole to hold a 71-59 lead with the game approaching the one-minute mark. After Dartmouth’s Brandon Ware canned a pair of free throws to make it a 10-point game, Ryan Wittman’s basket with 42 seconds left erased any chance of a miracle comeback by the Big Green.
Key performance Cornell’s Jason Hartford hit 6-of-7 shots from the field while scoring 12 points, just his third double-digit game since the opening week of the season. He nearly doubled his 6.8 scoring average coming in.
Key statistic Dartmouth was 4-for-6 from outside the arc in the first half but 0- for-3 in the second. Cornell went the other way. The Big Red was 2-for-8 in the opening half but 4-of-7 in the second.
 
Notes

– All of Cornell’s starters reached double figures, led by Wittman’s 16 points.

– DeVon Mosley led all scorers with 18 points, and Dartmouth got a big boost from sophomore center Elgin Fitzgerald, who scored a career-
high 17 points.

– The Big Green played without leading scorer and rebounder Alex Barnett, on the bench but out of uniform. The Dartmouth sports information office was unable to offer an explanation for his absence although there was speculation that he turned an ankle against Columbia. Freshman Clive Weeden started in his place.

– The Big Red shot 68.0 percent from the field in the first half (17-of-25) but led by just one point, 36-35, thanks to four three-pointers (in five attempts) by Mosley, including a banked-in heave at the buzzer after a Cornell turnover.

– Cornell is now 8-0 in the Ivies for the first time since the 1964-65 season and the Big Red’s 10-game winning streak is its longest since the
1987-88 Ivy champions won 11 in a row. Cornell’s six-game road win streak is the school’s longest since the 1967-68 team took seven straight.

– John Marciano, Dartmouth’s seven-foot freshman center, broke either a finger or his hand — reports vary — and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

– Cornell returns home next week to face Yale on Friday, February 22, while Dartmouth’s home stand continues with Penn that same night, with both games scheduled for 7:00 pm ET starts.

Bruce Wood

Bruce Wood wrote 37 posts

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