Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

Nov. 11, 2006

EVANSTON, Ill. - Sophomore Adam Gore had 20 points, freshman Ryan Wittman had 18 in his first collegiate start and sophomore Brian Kreefer made several big plays in the final three minutes as the Cornell men's basketball team beat a Big Ten opponent for the first time in nearly 40 years, opening the season with a 64-61 victory at Northwestern on Friday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The game served as the opener for both teams, with Cornell collecting a season-opening win away from Newman Arena for the second consecutive season.

Gore hit 7-of-13 shots overall, including 5-of-10 3-pointers, and added four assists in the victory, while Wittman made 6-of-15 shots as Cornell connected on 49 percent of its efforts overall. Senior center Andrew Naeve had 10 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth career double-double. Kreefer had all five of his points in the final four minutes, along with two big rebounds to keep possessions alive. The Big Red outrebounded Northwestern 29-26 and limited the Wildcats to 42 percent shooting overall and 29 percent from beyond the arc.

The Wildcats had four players reach double figures, led by Sterling Williams and Tim Doyle with 11 each. Vince Scott and Kevin Coble added 10 each. Doyle was also credited with a game-high eight assists and four steals, while Coble and Williams tied for team high with seven boards.

With a crowd of more than 400 boisterous Cornell fans in attendance, the Big Red played with high energy from start to finish. After the game, head coach Steve Donahue talked about the effort.

"This was a huge win for our program," Donahue said. "The reason I wanted to play this game was to allow Bob Gallagher '44 to sit on the bench with us in his hometown and cheer on his Big Red. He has done so much for me and been so supportive of me and the program. When he passed away three months ago, we knew we wanted to play this season, this game for him. I think we made him and his family proud of our effort."

Cornell got off to a great start, forcing a miss and then getting a four-point play by Gore 50 seconds into the contest to quiet the Northwestern crowd. It didn't take long before the partisan Wildcat crowd was screaming again, going on a 14-0 run over the next 3:47 behind six points by Williams and five from Coyle. Cornell got back within four at 16-12 on 3-pointers by Wittman and Gore sandwiched between free throws by Naeve, and Cornell sustained the momentum entering the second media timeout when Ugo Ihekweazu's blocked shot of Tim Doyle on a drive to the basket forced a tie-up, giving Cornell the basketball.

Cornell got within two three times, on Louis Dale's first collegiate points on an athletic driving layup, a jumper on the run by Gore and a spin move in the post by Ihekweazu, the latter moving Cornell within 20-18 with 7:28 remaining. The Wildcats used consecutive treys by Okrzesik to extend the lead back to eight, but the Big Red chipped back to within five on a 3-pointer by Louis Dale, who had seven points in his first collegiate start, with 3:28 left in the half to make it 28-23.

Cornell had the edge and brought momentum back into the locker room, outscoring the Wildcats 7-4 over the final three minutes to go into the break trailing by just one. A pair of free throws by Graham Dow and Wittman's second 3-pointer of the half made it 32-30. Dow earned a steal on the sideline with two seconds to play after knocking the ball out of bounds off of NU's Williams to break up Northwestern's attempt at a closing shot, and his long 3-pointer fell just short as time expired.

Both teams shot 50 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes, with the Wildcats holding a decisive 16-6 edge in points in the paint. Cornell did most of its damage from behind the arc, connecting on 5-of-14 3-pointers. Gore led the way for the Big Red with nine points and three assists, while Naeve and Wittman had six each. Doyle paced the Wildcats with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor, while Coble had seven on 3-of-4 shooting. Northwestern also held a slim 13-11 advantage on the glass.

Both teams came out shooting in the second half, trading the lead as the Big Red took an edge for the first time since 4-3 when Naeve's putback jumper made it 38-36 with 17:01 left in regulation. The Wildcats used Okrzesik's third trey of the contest to go back up 42-41, but that triggered another Big Red run. Cornell scored 10 of the next 11 points to give the visitors their biggest lead of the contest at 51-43 with 10:36 after consecutive treys by Gore and Wittman.

The Wildcats almost immediately answered Cornell's run with one of their own, retaking the lead at 52-51 on a bucket by Vince Scott. The two teams traded baskets over the next two minutes before the Big Red edged out to a 57-55 lead with under four to play after a free throw by Brian Kreefer. A miss by Northwestern led to a long possession by the Big Red, after having a pass deflected, Kreefer grabbed the loose ball and hit an off-balanced 3-pointer from the top of the key to go up 60-55 with 2:12 remaining.

Northwestern's Craig Moore hit a 3-pointer, his first bucket of the game, to cut the deficit to two (60-58) with 1:14 let, but a miss by Gore was rebounded by Kreefer, who remained Johnny-on-the-spot and hit a free throw to make it a four-point lead. Cornell was called for a foul on the other end, sending Moore to the line for three free throws. He connected on all three, but the Big Red's Wittman coolly went to the line and sank both charity shots with seven seconds to play to make it 64-61. Northwestern advanced the ball to midcourt and used two straight timeouts with 4.8 seconds left attempting to design a 3-point play to send the game into overtime. Northwestern did get off a shot, but Moore's effort was long and Cornell rebounded to give the Big Red an important early-season victory.

The Big Red will open its home slate on Monday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. when it plays host to Stony Brook at Newman Arena. The two teams have split two previous meetings, the last coming during the 2000-01 season, the first year under Cornell head coach Steve Donahue.