The men’s basketball team had a strong response to its first Ivy League loss since the 2007 campaign, beating Penn on Saturday night, 88-73. The Red (15-7, 5-1 Ivy) got solid contributions across the board with junior Ryan Wittman leading with 21 points, one of the team’s four double-digit scorers. The win keeps Cornell one game behind Princeton for the Ancient Eight’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Beyond the arc: Men’s basketball rebounded against Penn, hitting 38.1 percent of their shots from beyond the arc to win 88-73.

Men's Hockey

On Friday night, the Red got back in the win column after last weekend's 0-1-1 showing. Evan Barlow scored 2:52 into the overtime period to earn a 2-1 Cornell victory over Quinnipiac at Lynah.

Quinnipiac struck early, as Bobcats defenseman Brett Dickinson tallied his first goal of the season to put his team up 1-0 just 1:30 into the game. However, Brendon Nash scored a power-play goal on a slap-shot from the point at 15:10 of the first frame to tie the game up.

The score stayed knotted at one until the end of regulation.

Barlow's overtime goal was also scored on the power-play, after he received a pass from Brendon Nash and wired a slap-shot on net that went through the legs of Quinnipiac goalie Dan Clarke. Ben Scrivens made 25 saves in the winning effort.

Last weekend, the men’s basketball team made history with blowout wins over Brown and Yale. This weekend, as the team travels to Penn and Princeton, the Red could make history again with two wins regardless of the margin of victory.

Traditionally the toughest road trip for any Ivy League basketball team, the Penn-Princeton road trip has put many winning streaks to rest since the Ancient Eight’s inception in 1956. After sweeping each team last year, however, Cornell (14-6, 4-0 Ivy) could become the first-ever squad to sweep the Penn-Princeton road trip in back-to-back seasons.

The Red will also look to build on its nine-game winning streak — including seven straight by double figures.

Junior All-Ivy forward Ryan Wittman had more than students and local fans in attendance supporting him during this past weekend’s games at Newman Arena; his Dad joined the cheering fans in the stands. The elder Wittman, a former coach of the Minnesota Tim­berwolves and standout at Indiana University during his college years, shared his thoughts on his son and Cornell Basket­ball following Saturday night’s 64-36 win over Yale.

Harrison Sanford: How does it feel to get to watch your son in person?

Junior guard Louis Dale and the Red made a statement to the rest of the Ivy League Friday night by defeating Brown, 90-58. Dale led the Red with 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting and also played a big role in shutting down Brown guard Adrian Williams. The win put the team’s league record to 3-0 and dropped the Bears to 0-3 in Ancient Eight play.

Most of the men’s basketball game Saturday night was just a formality. In fact, most of the weekend was. The Red finished off a weekend sweep in historic fashion Saturday night with a 64-36 win over Yale.

Cornell played stellar defense, burned Yale in transition and expertly moved the ball on offense throughout the contest. The 28-point win brought the Red’s combined margin of victory from its two weekend matchups to 60. It was the biggest combined margin of victory for Cornell since the Ivy League’s inception in 1956.

The playmaker: Junior guard Louis Dale (12), seen here in the Red’s 64-36 win over Yale on Saturday, finished the weekend with 33 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

It is hard to imagine that the Red could play much better than it has been lately — Cornell has won seven games in a row, including the last five by double digits. Additionally, the Red has not lost at Newman Arena, where it will host Brown tonight and Yale tomorrow, for a school-record 15 consecutive games.

Maybe they wanted to see what the new guy could do. Maybe he just happened to be standing at the front of the line. Whatever the reason, men’s basketball freshman Chris Wroblewski was the first player out in the first drill of the first basketball season of his collegiate career.

“My very first practice. My first official practice,” Wroblewski laughed at the thought.

It was a full court drill that started out as a one-on-one breakaway, then proceeded into a two-on-one breakaway, a three-on-two breakaway, etc.

“That was the first drill we did in the first practice,” he said.

And Chris was the first out, dribbling down as the offensive player. Lanky junior Andre Wilkins waited at the other end with five extra inches and 20 extra pounds.

A gutsy effort by Columbia was not enough to derail the men’s basketball team’s seven-game win streak, as Cornell fought off several comeback attempts by the Lions en route to yet another win, 83-72.

Although Cornell’s (12-6, 2-0 Ivy) offense got off to a sluggish start the last time the Ivy rivals played, junior forward Alex Tyler had a big first half — 15 points, four rebounds and a blocked shot — to ensure that the Red got off to a solid start in its second league matchup of the 2008-09 season. Cornell used its speed and size to earn a .593 shooting percentage in the first half.

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Looking to extend its school-record home winning streak to 15 games, the men’s basketball team will welcome Columbia to Newman Arena at 4 p.m. tomorrow. Cornell dispatched the Lions in both teams’ Ivy League openers last weekend, 71-59, and should be further aided by returning to Newman Arena, where the Red has played exceptionally well of late.

At home this season, Cornell (11-6, 1-0 Ivy League) has shot .526 from the field and .500 from long distance while limiting opponents to .380 and .304, respectively. The Red has outscored its opponents by nearly 20 points on its home turf.