Cornell Tops Brown, 95-76, Gains NCAA Tournament Bid

Friday, March 5

7 pm

Brown University

Cornell

Cornell Tops Brown, 95-76, Gains NCAA Tournament Bid

3/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Providence, Rhode Island – Cornell connected on an Ivy League record 20 treys to capture the Ivy league Championship and become the first team in the country to punch its ticket into the NCAA Tournament with a 95-76 victory over Brown at the Pizzitola Sports Center. The win lifts the Big Red to 26-4 overall and 12-1 in the Ivy League, while Brown falls to 11-19, 5-8 in Ivy play.

All five Cornell starters scored in double figures, led by Jon Jaques with 20 points on 6 of 8 shooting from behind the three point arc, and Louis Dale, who added 18 points. Senior Ryan Wittman added 16 points and seven rebounds. The Big Red connected on a torrid 20 of 30 treys for the game.

Brown had four double figure scorer scorers with junior Peter Sullivan tossing in a game high 23 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the field and 6 of 6 from the free throw line. Sullivan moved into a tie for 21st place on Brown's all-time scoring list with 1,031 career points, tying Eric Blackiston (1992-1996), and moving past Woody Grimshaw, who scored 1,009 points from 1944-1947, and Brian Lloyd, who netted 1,011 points from 1992-1996.

Bears' junior guard Garrett Leffelman also had a big game for the Bears, scoring 16 points on 6 of 7 shooting from the field. Junior Adrian Williams chipped in with 13 points and six rebounds, while senior Matt Mullery came in with 10 points for the Bears.

Leading 51-47 at the half, Cornell opened the second half with three straight treys and grabbed a 63-51 lead over the Bears. Cornell led by as many as 22 points in the second half, 88-66, with 5:30 left in the game.

Cornell jumped out to an early 9-0 lead, before the Bears recovered to grab a 25-24 lead on a long trey by Sullivan with 10:00 left in the half.

The Big Red used an incredible three-point barrage to connect on 11 of their first 13 treys to build a 40-32 advantage over the Bears on a trey by Wittman with 6:20 to go in the half.

Cornell pulled ahead by as many as 11 points in the first half, 47-36, following a jump shot by Alex Tyler with 4:10 remaining before settling on a 51-47 halftime lead.

The Bears will complete their 2009-2010 season Saturday evening, hosting Columbia at the Pizzitola Sports Center, starting at 7:00 pm. Brown will honor its two seniors, Steve Gruber and Matt Mullery, in pre-game ceremonies.