Career-High 27 Points for Knight for Naught in 83-80 Loss

Friday, February 8

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

10-11, 1-4Ivy

Cornell

11-10, 3-2Ivy

Cornell

Dartmouth

Sophomore Chris Knight had a career-high 27 points.

Photo by: Herb Swanson

Career-High 27 Points for Knight for Naught in 83-80 Loss

2/8/2019 8:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Chris Knight was 10-of-14 from the floor, but Cornell's Matt Morgan set a Leede Arena record with 41 points

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth sophomore Chris Knight poured in a career-high 27 points, but Matt Morgan set the Leede Arena record with 41 points to lift Cornell to an 83-80 victory over the host Big Green on Friday night. Morgan also tied the arena record with nine 3-pointers in just 11 attempts as Cornell improved to 3-2 in the Ivy League and 11-10 on the season while Dartmouth (10-11, 1-4 Ivy) suffered its fourth straight loss.

Morgan moved within 11 points of Dartmouth's Jim Barton '89 for second place on the Ivy League's all-time scoring list with his record-breaking output and met the Big Green legend after the game. Morgan was 13-of-17 overall from the floor and converted all six of his foul shots to help the Big Red earn the road victory.

Knight was 10-of-14 and 7-of-9 at the line to account for his 27 points, plus added five assists, four rebounds and four blocks to his ledger on a night when both teams shot over 54 percent. Dartmouth had a more balanced attack with five players in double figures, while Cornell was bolstered by 15 points from Josh Warren, including 5-of-5 at the line and four crucial makes in the final 20 seconds to hold off the Big Green.

Junior Brendan Barry, who entered the game leading Division I in 3-point accuracy at 50 percent, was able to get off a long-distance shot before the final buzzer, but his shot could only draw iron. He finished the game with 12 points, sophomore Aaryn Rai had 11 and junior Ian Sistare and freshman Taurus Samuels added 10 apiece.

Dartmouth led for a good portion of the first half and was up, 31-28, following a Sistare layup with 3:27 left in the half. But Morgan took over for those last three-plus minutes of the stanza, converting three free throws after being fouled behind the arc to tie the game, then draining three straight long balls after Barry had clipped the nets with a 3-pointer of his own to give Cornell at 40-34 advantage at the intermission.

The Big Red never relinquished the lead in the second half, increasing the difference to eight points on three occasions. The last of those came on a layup by Jimmy Boeheim to make it a 68-60 game, but Dartmouth rattled off 10 of the next 12 points to knot the score at 70, capped by a three-point play by Rai off of a turnover.

But Morgan answered as he had all night, ripping a 3-pointer after Knight had blocked a shot down low to put the Big Red back on top. After Knight drilled two free throws, Morgan one-upped himself, knocking down his record-tying ninth trey while getting fouled, then adding the free throw to tie the arena record of 39 points and give Cornell a five-point edge, 77-72.

Still the Big Green would not yield as Sistare and Samuels drove for layups with the latter getting an opportunity to knot the score once again after being fouled going to the rim. His shot was off the mark, and Morgan set the scoring mark with just over a minute left by driving the baseline for a basket in traffic.

Although Knight twice closed the gap to one with a bucket in the paint and two free throws, Warren answered each with a pair of foul shots of his own, setting up Barry's try at the buzzer.

The Big Red shot a robust 54.7 percent (29-of-53) from the floor and 10-of-16 (.625) from long range, but they won the game at the charity stripe, hitting 15-of-16 (.938). At the other end, Dartmouth nearly matched Cornell from the floor at 54.2 percent (32-of-59) but only 35.3 percent (6-of-17) from long range to go with 76.9 percent (10-of-13) at the line.

Cornell bested the Big Green on the glass, 28-25, but turned the ball over 14 times to just 11 for the hosts.

Dartmouth will conclude its four-game home stand tomorrow night when Columbia (6-13, 1-4 Ivy) comes to Leede Arena on Saturday for a 7 p.m. tipoff after suffering a gut-wrenching 98-96, triple-overtime loss at Harvard tonight. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Bob Lipman and Eric Berry calling the action. Fans can also listen to the contests locally on KOOL FM (106.7 FM in Hanover, 96.3 FM in Walpole and 106.5 FM in Keene) or online at koolnh.com with Brett Franklin and Bill Murphy on the call.

Notes: The previous Leede Arena scoring record of 39 points was set by Vermont's Eddie Benton in 1994 and matched by Dartmouth's Miles Wright against LIU Brooklyn in November of 2015 … Morgan also became the first visiting player to top 30 points in a game at Leede Arena twice having scored 32 here as a freshman … the Big Red have five straight in the series and their last five at Leede Arena to take a 111-106 lead in the all-time series … Barton scored 2,158 points in his career while Morgan sits at 2,147 after his career-high performance.