There was an upset brewing in Ithaca, New York for much of the night. At the end, however, the Brown Bears failed to find the basket and let the Cornell Big Red ease its way to a 57-49 victory in Ivy League play on Friday night.
Brown held a 3 point lead at halftime and led by as many as four in the second half before ending the game on a scoreless stretch that ultimately sealed their fate. Leading 49-47, the Bears were held without a point over the last 3:31, and Cornell converted 8 free throws in that span to ice the game.
Cornell, which got 11 points each from Galal Cancer and Devin Cherry, won the game despite making just 1 of its 14 three point attempts. The Big Red outscored Brown 33-22 over the last 20 minutes of the game.
Brown was paced by a game high 14 points from Tavon Blackmon, but the Bears could muster no better than 30% shooting on the night.
It was a crucial game for both teams. Brown was looking to avoid a winless Ivy League start, while Cornell faced a near must win situation to stay on pace with conference leaders Yale and Harvard for the League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Indeed, with the loss Brown drops to 0-3 and Cornell improves to 2-1 to stay on pace in the League.
The Big Red will face top ranked Yale on Saturday to try and take over a share of first place. The Bears essentially fall out of contention with the loss but hope to get into the win column with a visit to Columbia on Saturday.