After losing to Yale in the semifinal round of the Ivy Madness tournament, men’s basketball (22-8, 11-3 Ivy) was selected to be in the National Invitation Tournament, marking the program’s first appearance in the tournament. In the opening round, the Red was slated to face Ohio State (21-13, 9-11 Big 10).
In a bout where neither team led by more than five points in the final 17 minutes of the game, Cornell put up a good fight but ultimately fell to Ohio State, 88-83.
With senior guard Chris Manon out of the starting lineup due to injury, head coach Brian Earl chose senior forward Keller Boothby to round out the starting five. Tuesday’s game marked Boothby’s 37th –– and final –– start for the Red.
In the early minutes of the game, the Buckeyes capitalized due to its size advantage, collecting 10 offensive rebounds in the first five minutes of the game. Despite these second chances, Ohio State had a hard time putting the ball in the basket, missing 10 consecutive field goal attempts at one point.
Cornell finished the game getting outrebounded 51 to 32 and only securing six offensive rebounds.
The Red’s strong interior defense kept Ohio State off balance in the paint, causing the Buckeyes to make just five of its first 24 field goal attempts.
Down 6-4 around two minutes in, sophomore guard Cooper Noard knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to put the Red ahead by four. Just a few minutes later, freshman guard Jake Fiegen converted on a three-point shot, giving Cornell a 15-8 lead.
As the half progressed, the Red expanded its lead to as much as 10 points. However, Cornell was unable to maintain this lead once the Buckeyes hit its stride from deep, nailing six out of its final 10 three-point attempts in the half. The Red, on the other hand, failed to make a field goal in the last three minutes of the half.
Going into halftime, the Red trailed 44-38.
After driving to the basket and getting fouled, junior guard Nazir Williams made both of his free throws to open up the second half scoring.
Senior guard Isaiah Gray and junior forward Guy Ragland Jr. were the heartbeat of Cornell’s offense early in the second half, scoring 17 out of the team’s first 19 points of the half.
Gray finished the game with a team-leading 19 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Ragland ended the game with 17 points and nine rebounds.
Midway through the second half, the Red regained the lead with 13:56 left in the game. It was a true back-and-forth from there. Until the Buckeyes went up by five with 6:17 remaining, no team led by more than three points.
Fiegen showed up when it mattered most late in the game. After scoring just three points in the first 34 minutes of the game, he knocked down multiple clutch threes and secured key defensive rebounds to keep the Red in the game.
A layup from Gray, who was playing with four fouls after a technical, gave Cornell a late 81-79 lead with 1:04 remaining. However, the Buckeyes continued to fight back, reclaiming the lead just seconds later.
With Cornell down by three points with under 20 seconds left, Gray drove to the basket but missed the key layup. The Buckeyes went on to make four consecutive free throws to seal its victory.
The loss ends Cornell’s record-breaking season, which featured the team’s fourth Ivy Madness appearance and its inaugural NIT berth.