One day after men’s basketball’s (20-5, 9-2 Ivy) nail-biting 65-62 victory against Yale, the Red took the court against Brown (9-17, 5-6 Ivy) at Newman Arena in hopes of maintaining its one-game advantage at the top of the Ivy League. Offensive rebounding and second chance points from Brown led to a heartbreaking 78-74 loss, leaving Cornell in a tie for first place with Princeton and Yale.
“It’s hard … just really hard. The past few years we have been where Brown is, just dying to get into the tournament, and now that we have clinched, these things happen,” said head coach Brian Earl. “It’s hard to play a team that’s fighting for its life when you are at the top of the table.”
Brown, having won its last two games, came out fast, taking an early 7-0 lead, before senior forward Sean Hansen knocked down a three-pointer to give Cornell its first points of the game.
Coming off the bench, junior forward Guy Ragland Jr. and senior guard Chris Manon made their presence known early, scoring eight of the Red’s next 11 points and helping it stick around with a physical Brown team.
With four minutes remaining in the half and Brown leading 33-30, back-to-back shots by Hansen put Cornell ahead for the first time since the score was 8-7. Hansen’s 10 first-half points led the Red.
Both teams traded three-point shots to close out the first half with freshman guard Jake Fiegen and sophomore guard Cooper Noard getting into the action. Cornell and Brown shot over 50 percent from the field as Brown held a 43-41 advantage at halftime.
Brown’s hot shooting continued at the start of the second half as it knocked down two three-pointers to lengthen its lead to six points. The Bears’ Kalu Anya added to his game-high 23 points with a layup before a behind-the-arc shot by Hansen cut Brown’s lead back down to two.
The Red would then struggle to create offense with a five-minute scoring drought taking place midway through the half. Brown took advantage of the Red’s missed shots and turnovers, growing its lead to 65-52 and forcing Cornell to take a timeout and regroup.
“[Brown] was keeping their bodies in front of everybody and we didn’t handle it the way we should have,” Earl said. “They did a good job of having somebody in front of our guys at all times.”
Cornell would shrink the margin to six with a three-pointer from Hansen and layups from Ragland Jr. and Manon. After drawing a foul, a Brown missed free throw led to a fastbreak splash from behind the arc by Noard to cut the lead to three and reignite the crowd at Newman Arena.
Three points was the closest the Red would get — Anya and Brown’s Nana Owusu-Anane went on to make their free throws after being fouled with less than a minute left.
The loss ruined Cornell’s perfect home record this season and snapped an 11-game home winning streak for the Red.
Each of the last three regular-season games will be crucial to the Red’s seeding in the Ivy Madness Tournament. It will start with a matchup on March 1 at 7:30 p.m. when Cornell travels to Philadelphia to face off against Penn. This game can be streamed live on ESPN+.