ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell caught fire from three-point range and never cooled off, hitting 16 three-pointers to take down Longwood 70-64 Thursday evening at Newman Arena.
 
The Big Red (5-5) knocked down 16-of-32 treys to become only the fourth team to reach the 70-point threshold against Longwood, the Big South's top-ranked scoring defense. The Ivy League's leading scorer Matt Morgan led that charge, scoring 17 points and hitting five three-pointers, while Jimmy Boeheim added 12 points and hit four threes.
 
Cornell built an 18-point lead midway through the second half, but Longwood (8-5) rallied with a 15-2 run and cut the deficit to four points on a three-point play by Jaylon Wilson with 2:50 to play. However, Boeheim responded with an off-balance three-pointer – his fourth of the night – and the Big Red hit 8-of-10 free throws the rest of the way to seal the win.
 
"You play your principles defensively, you play aggressively, and you don't let them get into a rhythm. Unfortunately, we didn't do a whole lot of that," said Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich.
 
"We've seen that happen a couple times this season where we're not the aggressor defensively, offense comes easily, teams start to get into a rhythm, their shots start to feel good, and then they start to make shots."
 
That three-point onslaught outpaced the second double-double of the season from junior point guard Shabooty Phillips, who led Longwood with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Jordan Cintron added 14 points and eight rebounds, while JaShaun Smith scored 11 and matched a career-high with three blocks.
 
However, that three-headed attack was repeatedly countered by Cornell's scoring bursts, including a span of 66 seconds in the first half when Bryan Knapp, Jake Kuhn and Morgan hit three straight to break open a 15-15 deadlock and take the lead for the rest of the game. Cornell hit three more treys in the final 96 seconds of the first half to turn a three-point lead to double digits at the break.
 
The shots kept falling for the Big Red after halftime with Boeheim and Morgan hitting back-to-back-to-back treys to extend their lead to 51-33.
 
Longwood finally found a rhythm with 11:37 remaining and responded to that run of three-pointers with an 18-4 run that trimmed a once-18-point deficit to just four at 55-51. Cintron sparked that rally with a three-point play, and Wilson punctuated it with a three-point play of his own. Smith and Juan Munoz also hit three-pointers during that stretch.
 
However, that second-half gap proved too much to overcome, and Boeheim killed the run with his fourth three-pointer with 2:23 remaining.
 
"Our guys have worked so hard since June to get to where they are. And like we told them, there is no disrespect if you play your heart out, you play your principles, and the other team shows up and they're just better than you. That happens a lot in sports, and that's ok," Aldrich said.
 
"What's not ok is to not show up, to not give it your all, to not be completely locked in and focused. Unfortunately that's what we saw in the first half tonight. We had four moving screens, and as I told them, you quickly realized in the second half they were calling it. The problem is it reveals you can adjust, but you didn't adjust until there were 10 minutes left in the game."
 
Despite the loss, Longwood is still in the midst of the best start of the program's Division I era with two non-conference games remaining before the Lancers open Big South play at Preseason No. 1 Radford on Jan. 5. The first of those will be at home against Stetson this Friday, Dec. 21, and will be followed by the non-conference finale at The Citadel on Dec. 29.
 
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