Recaps from Sunday's game are below.
Vestal, NY (WBNG Binghamton) Freshman guard Jordan Reed keyed a furious second half rally but visiting Cornell held off Binghamton men’s basketball 79-77 Sunday afternoon.
In front of a season-high 3,673 fans, BU hit its season-high in scoring and nearly overcame a 22-point deficit in the second half, thanks to 70 percent shooting.
Reed notched his second straight double-double with game-highs of 23 points and 14 rebounds and the Bearcats made their final eight three-point attempts to delay the outcome until the final 10 seconds.
Clinging to a 78-75 lead with 15 seconds left and the shock clock winding down, the Big Red launched a three-point attempt that caromed hard off the back of the iron and into the hands of forward Eitan Chemerinski.
The pivotal offensive rebound set up Cornell at the foul line and guard Galal Cancer sank 1-of-2 from the line. A last-second jumper from junior guard Rayner Moquete ended the scoring.
“Overall I’m proud of the way we played,” head coach Tommy Dempsey said. “We needed a stop on the last possession and got it ... but we didn’t get the rebound. We’ve been struggling and early in that second half we were in position to be blown out on our home court ... so our backs were against the wall. We can take pride in what we accomplished over the final 10-12 minutes. We made it a very exciting game and I think we got into a rhythm but just ran out of time at the end.”
Reed, whose seven double-doubles are the most of any guard in the entire country, netted 15 of his points after halftime. His three from the top of the key with 50 seconds left drew BU to within three, 78-75, setting the stage for the final two possessions. Reed made 4-of-5 shots in the second half, including both three-point attempts. He leads the entire America East in rebounding (10.3) and ranks third in scoring (17.3).
Cornell, which led 41-26 at intermission, held a 55-33 cushion with 14:33 remaining. The Big Red then led 62-43 with 10:57 left before BU embarked on a 21-11 run that featured five three-pointers - including two apiece from Moquete and senior forward Taylor Johnston. In the final 14+ minutes, the Bearcats made all eight three-point attempts and when Moquete drilled his with 6:04 left, BU was within single digits, 73-64. After Cornell pushed its lead back to 11, Binghamton closed the game on a 12-3 run that stirred the big crowd into a frenzy. Moquete added a pair of free throws with 2:30 left and Reed drove the lane for a tough jumper with 1:25 remaining that made the score 76-74.
The visitors opened the game with an 18-5 run as BU misfired on 9-of-10 to start. But the Bearcats shot 7-of-15 to end the half and then made 16-of-23 in the second half - the best shooting half of the season (70%).
“We had better ball movement and cutting in the second half,” Dempsey said. “Our passing was much better and that led to such a high shooting percentage.”
Binghamton made a season-best 11 three-pointers and put four players in double figures. In addition to Reed, Moquete wound up with a season-high 19 points - 14 of which came in the second half. Johnston drilled 4-of-7 threes to match his career high of 14 points. Senior guard Jimmy Gray hit 6-of-8 from the field en route to 14 points. Reed made 9-of-10 free throws and played the entire 40 minutes. He pulled down 10 defensive rebounds and added a block and steal.
Cornell received 18 points from Johnathan Gray and also hit 11 shots from beyond the arc.
The Bearcats head to Hartford on New Year’s Day in preparation for their America East opener against the Hawks on January 2.
VESTAL — The Cornell University men’s basketball team nearly learned a bitter lesson about keeping its foot on the pedal on Sunday afternoon.
The Big Red held on for a 79-77 nonconference victory against Binghamton University in front of an announced crowd of 3,673 in the Events Center. The win wrapped up a stretch of five consecutive road games for the Big Red, which went 2-3 during that swing, and it improved its record to 6-8 this season with three games remaining before the start of Ivy League play.
The Bearcats (2-11), despite losing their seventh consecutive game, outscored Cornell 51-38 and shot 70 percent in the second half.
“With our team it’s been a little bit of a situation for us all year. Maturity is the thing,” Cornell coach Bill Courtney said. “We have to learn that when we get guys down to continue to do the things that brought us there.”
Following a BU turnover against the Big Red press, Nolan Cressler (14 points) missed a jumper, but sophomore forward Shonn Miller swooped in for a put-back dunk with 14:33 left, adding an exclamation point to what was then a 55-33 lead.
BU began its rally when trailing 57-38, scoring seven consecutive points to shrink the deficit to 57-43. Then a BU 3-point barrage started, as the home squad made 9 3-pointers in the second half.
“In the timeout we talked about continuing to pressure defensively, continuing to rebound the basketball, continuing to push the ball up the floor,” Courtney said. “What we did in that stretch, there were four or five plays where we kind of let off the gas a little bit, let them move the basketball, run their offense. They started making shots.
“Once they started making shots, even when we defended them they still kept making shots. That was unbelievable, to go 9-for-11 from 3. I know my team. If we left my team out there by themselves with nobody in the gym, there’s no way we go 9-for-11.”
The Bearcats continued to chip away and trailed 76-70 with two and half minutes left to play. Jordan Reed managed to muscle a shot toward the rim amidst a pile of bodies in the paint, and it fell to make the score 76-72 with 1:25 left to play.
The Bearcats mounted their comeback primarily with a small lineup featuring three guards in Reed, Raynor Moquete, and Jimmy Gray (14 points) with 6-foot-7 wing Taylor Johnston (14 points) and 6-foot-6 forward Javon Ralling.
However, down the stretch Courtney made the decision to substitute 6-foot-8, 223-pound senior center Eitan Chemerinski, who scored 17 points, into the game for an interior presence. That decision turned out to be pivotal; Chemerinski hauled in an offensive rebound and sank a layup to boost the margin back to six points with 56.1 seconds left.
The Bearcats remained within one possession after Reed, who came into the game shooting two of 16 on 3-pointers, drained a pull-up 3 from the wing to make it 76-73.
Big Red sophomore guard Galal Cancer missed 3-pointer on the next possession, but Chemerinski grabbed another offensive rebound. The Bearcats were forced to foul Cancer to stop the clock with eight seconds left. Cancer made one of two free throws, but that was enough to give Cornell a four-point lead before Moquete made a jumper at the buzzer.
The Bearcats were able to turn a blowout into a reason for mild optimism despite a loss on Sunday afternoon. Cornell got the 79-77 win, but the Bearcats nearly came back after trailing by 22 points in the second half at home.
The fact that the game was on BU’s home court weighed on the minds of BU coach Tommy Dempsey as well as guards Jordan Reed and Rayner Moquete.
“Just the fans,” Reed said when asked what changed the team’s mindset when they were down 22 points. “It was a wonderful crowd out there. I know me, personally, I hate for people to come out and them not to proud of us. I just wanted, personally, to give it my all so they know that I’m trying and we’re tying to win.”
Moquete expressed a similar sentiment, saying, “At that point I just wanted to give the crowd something exciting, that way they could come back and support us. At the end of the day, they come out, they support us, and they want to see something. So when we were down 20, we just brought our intensity up and we just gave it the best we got.”
TURNING POINT: The rally was on. The Bearcats were defending, and they were shooting the lights out in the second half. However, they’d put a smaller lineup on the floor in order to spark their comeback. In the final two minutes, Cornell’s center Eitan Chemerinski provided a pair of pivotal offensive rebounds.
“I knew that with that type of deficit we had to go small and trap and try to force Cornell to play faster,” Dempsey said. “Once they got the lead they were having long possessions, and eventually, you just run out of time.”
Jordan Reed made a shot in traffic to make the score 76-72 with 1:25 left to play. Chemerinski, who scored 17 points, hauled in an offensive rebound and turned it into a layup to boost the margin back to six points with 56.1 seconds left.
Reed drained a pull-up 3 from the wing to make it 76-73, and Big Red sophomore guard Galal Cancer missed 3-pointer on the next possession, but Chemerinski grabbed another offensive rebound. The Bearcats were forced to foul Cancer to stop the clock with eight seconds left. Cancer made one of two free throws, but that was enough to give Cornell a four-point lead.
“We tried to do a little offense-defense,” Cornell coach Bill Courtney said of his decision. “We actually went small a little bit when we had a chance to go so defensively we had a chance to switch all those ball screens. But then when we went on offense I wanted that big guy in there to rebound the basketball and throw it in the post because he was having such a great game.”
YOU MIGHT WANT TO GUARD Jordan Reed: While Reed’s jump shot is still a work in progress, he didn’t miss much of anything in the second half. After he went 2-for-9 in the first half, Reed made 4 of 5 shots from the floor in the second half including a pair of 3-pointers. He also went 9-for-10 from the free throw line on his way to a 23-point performance.
“In the second half, he just made shot,” Courtney said. “He just ran down the floor and jumped up over. I think every one of his shots was contested. I think every one of his shots was contested. We didn’t give up wide-open layups or wide-open threes. He took and made some very difficult shots. Give him credit for being a really good player.”
IS STAT SO: BU shot 11 of 2o from the 3-point line in the game, recording a season high for 3-pointers in a game. They made 9 of 11 3-pointers in the second half inspiring awe in Cornell coach Bill Courtney.
“There were four or five plays where we kind of let off the gas a little bit, let them move the basketball, run their offense and then they started making shots,” Cornell coach Bill Courtney said. “Once they started making shots, even when we defended them they still kept making shots. That was unbelievable, to go 9-for-11 from 3.
“I know my team. If we left my team out there by themselves with nobody in the gym, there’s no way we go 9-for-11. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit for continuing to fight.”
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VESTAL, N.Y. – Senior Eitan Chemerinski scored 17 points and had a pair of key offensive rebounds in the final minute to help Cornell hold off a furious Binghamton rally to hang on for a 79-77 win on Sunday afternoon at the Events Center. The Big Red won its second straight road game to improve to 6-8, while the Bearcats slipped to 2-10.
Cornell led by as many as 22 points with 13 minutes remaining, then weathered a storm of 3-pointers by a Bearcat team that entered the night shooting just 28 percent from beyond the arc. Chemerinski made sure the Big Red wouldn't fold, grabbing an offensive rebound and putback and then grabbing another that led to a Galal Cancer free throw that sealed the game with eight seconds left.
Senior Johnathan Gray scored a team-high 18 points, including five 3-pointers, and grabbed six rebounds, while freshman Nolan Cressler and junior Dominick Scelfo each scored 14. Cressler added seven rebounds and three steals in the win, and the 14 points was a career high for Scelfo. Sophomore Shonn Miller rounded out the double figure scorers with 12 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Galal Cancer chipped in three steals and the game-sealing free throw and senior Miles Asafo-Adjei had five assists and just one turnover, giving him 11 assists and one turnover in his last two games. The Big Red shot 47 percent from the floor overall and connected on 11-of-31 from 3-point range. It held a dominant 28-3 edge in bench scoring and a 19-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
Binghamton got 23 points and 14 rebounds from impressive freshman Jordan Reed. Rayner Moquete added 19 pooints, while Jimmy GRay and Taylor Johnston each scored 14. The Bearcats shot 49 percent from the floor overall and made 11-of-20 3-pointers, good for 55 percent. Included was a red-hot 9-of-11 from beyond the arc (82 percent) after halftime to rally the home team.
It was nearly an identical start as Friday night's win at Saint Francis (Pa.), with the Big Red overwhelming its opponent with consistent pressure. Cornell raced out to a 10-point lead less than seven minutes in when Chemerinski scored the last of his five straight points. Cornell opened the game with a tough three-point play by Miller and Gray hit a long 3-pointer to build a 6-0 lead less than a minute in. Like Friday, Cornell would never trail.
Cornell pushed its first half lead to as many as 17 on three different occasions, the last time after Cressler hit a trey from the left wing on a feed from Asafo-Adjei to make it 41-24 with 49 seconds left before halftime. Cornell's lead entering the half was 15 as the Bearcats were limited to 31 percent shooting overall, including 2-of-9 from 3-point range.
For 27 minutes, Cornell did everything it wanted to do. Limit its own turnovers. Make open shots. Pressure the ball and force turnovers, leading to easy transition.
Then Binghamton started making shots, gaining confidence. As the lead dwindled, the crowd of more than 3,600 on a Sunday afternoon over a holiday weekend started to wake up. Trailing by 22 (55-33), it started with a Taylor Johnston 3-pointer. After the teams traded buckets, Reed hit a trey of his own. Reed then hit a pair of free throws. Johnston nailed another 3-pointer, then a third in short order to make it a 13-point game. Moquete hit one, then Gray hit one. With six minutes to play, it was a single digit affair.
By the time Jordan Reed hit his second 3-pointer of the night with 50 seconds left, it was down to three (78-75). Cornell ran time off the clock, but the possession ended with an off-balanced 3-point miss by Cancer at the end of the shot clock. Chemerinski chased the ball down, much like he had 45 seconds earlier. He got the ball back to Cancer, whoe was fouled with eight seconds left. His first shot missed, but his second pushed the game back to two possessions. Binghamton was slowed down by the Cornell defense on its final possession and was chased off the 3-point line. Moquete's jumper as time expired brought the game within two, but was only cosmetic as the Big Red celebrated the win.
Cornell returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 2 when it faces defending Patriot League regular season champion Bucknell at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.
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Video Highlights
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Video Highlights
Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)
VESTAL, N.Y.—Freshman guard Jordan Reed keyed a furious second half rally but visiting Cornell (6-8) held off Binghamton men’s basketball (2-11) 79-77 Sunday afternoon. In front of a season-high 3,673 fans, BU hit its season-high in scoring and nearly overcame a 22-point deficit in the second half, thanks to 70 percent shooting.
Reed notched his second straight double-double with game-highs of 23 points and 14 rebounds and the Bearcats made their final eight three-point attempts to delay the outcome until the final 10 seconds. Clinging to a 78-75 lead with 15 seconds left and the shock clock winding down, the Big Red launched a three-point attempt that caromed hard off the back of the iron and into the hands of forward Eitan Chemerinski (17 pts.). The pivotal offensive rebound set up Cornell at the foul line and guard Galal Cancer sank 1-of-2 from the line. A last-second jumper from junior guard Rayner Moquete ended the scoring.
“Overall I’m proud of the way we played,” head coach Tommy Dempsey said. “We needed a stop on the last possession and got it ... but we didn’t get the rebound. We’ve been struggling and early in that second half we were in position to be blown out on our home court ... so our backs were against the wall. We can take pride in what we accomplished over the final 10-12 minutes. We made it a very exciting game and I think we got into a rhythm but just ran out of time at the end.”
Reed, whose seven double-doubles are the most of any guard in the entire country, netted 15 of his points after halftime. His three from the top of the key with 50 seconds left drew BU to within three, 78-75, setting the stage for the final two possessions. Reed made 4-of-5 shots in the second half, including both three-point attempts. He leads the entire America East in rebounding (10.3) and ranks third in scoring (17.3).
Cornell, which led 41-26 at intermission, held a 55-33 cushion with 14:33 remaining. The Big Red then led 62-43 with 10:57 left before BU embarked on a 21-11 run that featured five three-pointers - including two apiece from Moquete and senior forward Taylor Johnston. In the final 14+ minutes, the Bearcats made all eight three-point attempts and when Moquete drilled his with 6:04 left, BU was within single digits, 73-64. After Cornell pushed its lead back to 11, Binghamton closed the game on a 12-3 run that stirred the big crowd into a frenzy. Moquete added a pair of free throws with 2:30 left and Reed drove the lane for a tough jumper with 1:25 remaining that made the score 76-74.
The visitors opened the game with an 18-5 run as BU misfired on 9-of-10 to start. But the Bearcats shot 7-of-15 to end the half and then made 16-of-23 in the second half - the best shooting half of the season (70%).
“We had better ball movement and cutting in the second half,” Dempsey said. “Our passing was much better and that led to such a high shooting percentage.”
Binghamton made a season-best 11 three-pointers and put four players in double figures. In addition to Reed, Moquete wound up with a season-high 19 points - 14 of which came in the second half. Johnston drilled 4-of-7 threes to match his career high of 14 points. Senior guard Jimmy Gray hit 6-of-8 from the field en route to 14 points. Reed made 9-of-10 free throws and played the entire 40 minutes. He pulled down 10 defensive rebounds and added a block and steal.
Cornell received 18 points from Johnathan Gray and also hit 11 shots from beyond the arc.
The Bearcats head to Hartford on New Year’s Day in preparation for their America East opener against the Hawks on January 2.
NOTES
The game was televised by Time Warner Cable Sportschannel ... longtime team physician and recent BU Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Doug Kerr was honored at halftime for his 29-year tenure with the athletics department ... Dempsey and his staff coached the game shoeless as part of the Soles4Souls charity promotion.
Eitan Chemerinski grabbed two offensive rebounds all game, and they couldn’t have come at more opportune moments for Cornell, which beat Binghamton 79-77 at the Events Center on Sunday afternoon.
After Binghamton (2-11) had cut a 22-point second half deficit to four with 1:25 left, Chemerinski grabbed an offensive rebound and deposited it through contact for an and-one. He missed the foul shot, and Jordan Reed nailed a quick pull-up three with 48 seconds left to make it 78-75. But following a Cornell (6-8) miss with 13 seconds left, Chemerinski battled for another offensive rebound and handed the ball to Galal Cancer, who hit 1-of-2 foul shots with eight seconds left.
Rayner Moquete’s answer at the buzzer was inconsequential.
But even though Binghamton fell short, the team’s inspired, determined effort in the second half served as another reminder that Tommy Dempsey has the program headed in the right direction amidst a season in which wins are not the only results that matter.
Cornell led 41-26 at halftime after converting 7-of-17 three-point attempts and dictating the pace, and the lead bloated to 22 with 14:33 left. The Big Red thwarted every mini-run by Binghamton, keeping their lead at 16 with a Johnathan Gray three-pointer at the 8:24 mark.
Then the Bearcats, who buried nine threes on 11 second half attempts, hit eight of their next nine field goals. But timely answers by Cornell and Chemerinski’s offensive rebounding prevented Binghamton from earning its first win since Nov. 24.
Reed notched his seventh double-double, scoring 23 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. He finds himself tied with Louisiana-Lafayette’s Shawn Long for most double-doubles by a freshman.
Cornell’s help-defense frustrated Reed in the first half to the tune of 2-for-9 shooting from the floor, but the second half was a different story as the freshman sunk two pull-up threes and shot 4-for-5. The two threes served as an encouraging sign for Reed, who had hit just two threes all season, as did his 9-of-10 performance from the charity stripe.
Moquete (19), Jimmy Gray (14) and Taylor Johnston (14) joined Reed in double-figures. For Moquete, who looked a lot more like the player that dominated Susquehanna, the scoring output was a career-high.
Chereminski finished with 17 points on 7-of-7 shooting for Cornell, and his presence in the offensive post proved to be crucial in stabilizing the Big Red. Gray, who shot 5-of-13 from three, led Cornell with 18 points.
The Bearcats are set to open conference play on Wednesday at Hartford. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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