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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Cornell
Players Mentioned
Cornell Defeats Men's Basketball, 55-35
January 13, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Ryan Wittman scored a game-high 17 points and Cornell used an 18-0 first-half run to take control as the Big Red defeated Princeton, 55-35, in an Ivy League men's basketball game played at Newman Arena Saturday night.
Princeton (9-6, 0-2 Ivy) led 14-9 midway through the first half before the Big Red (8-8, 1-1 Ivy) scored the next 18 points, holding Princeton without a field goal for an eight-minute stretch. Louis Dale had seven of his 14 points in the run, including a three-pointer with 6:54 left that gave Cornell the lead for good and a layup with three minutes left that ended the stretch and made the score 27-14 Cornell.
The Tigers, who fell to 0-2 in Ivy League play for the first time since the 1983-84 season, cut their second-half deficit to just seven at 32-25 when Luke Owings his a three-pointer from the right wing with 15 minutes left in the game. But Graham Dow's three-point play on Cornell's next possession ignited another Big Red run, this time a 14-2 stretch that ended when Wittman made it 46-27 Cornell with two free throws with 10:23 left.
Wittman shot 6 for 9 from the field and 3 for 5 from three-point range to lead Cornell, which defeated Princeton for the fourth time in the last five meetings between the teams. The Big Red shot 20 for 35 from the field for the game (57%) and made six of their 11 attempts from three-point range.
Zach Finley, who earned a start for Princeton due to a foot injury to Princeton leading scorer Kyle Koncz, led the Tigers with a season-high 12 points. Koncz, averaging 10.3 points per game coming into the game, played five minutes off the bench in the first half but did not return to the game in the second half.
Princeton made just three of its 24 three-point attempts and was outrebounded 32-16. Finley, starting his fourth game of his freshman season, was the only Princeton player to finish in double figures in scoring. The Tigers shot 30% for the game (14 for 47) and 27% in the first half in falling behind 27-16 at halftime.
The Tigers, who have lost consecutive games for the first time since last January, took a 9-0 lead three minutes into the game but made just three field goals in the final 17 minutes of the half after making three shots in the game's first three minutes. Princeton then made three field goals in the first three minutes of the second half to cut its deficit to single digits but had just five field goals the remainder of the half after that.
Princeton's 35 points were its fewest in an Ivy League game since falling at Cornell 63-30 on the final day of the 1984-85 season. The loss was Princeton's biggest in Ivy League play since a 24-point defeat against Penn at Jadwin Gym in 2002.
The Tigers will take first-semester exams next week and return to action in 15 days, Jan. 29, when they visit Seton Hall for their final non-league game of the year at the Continental Airlines Arena.