Cornell 78, Saint Joseph’s 66

The men’s basketball team made the first move towards reestablishing its home win streak, soundly defeating Saint Joseph’s, 78-66, on Sunday at Newman Arena. Cornell has now won five games in a row and moves to 7-2 on the season. Senior forward Ryan Wittman led both teams with 17 points and was one of four Red players in double-figures, but the real story on the day was senior forward Jon Jaques, who, making his first collegiate start in place of injured fellow tri-captain Alex Tyler, notched a career-high 15 points, exceeding his previous personal best by eight.

The Red got out to a quick 8-2 start thanks largely to back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore guard Chris Wroblewski and Wittman. Although Cornell never trailed in Sunday’s contest, the Hawks’ ability to capitalize on the home team’s turnovers went a long way to keeping the score close –– that is until senior guard Darrin Govens drained both of his free throw attempts to knot things up at 30 heading into halftime. Allow me to reintroduce myself: Senior forward Jon Jaques (25) scored a career-high 15 points in Sunday's win over Saint Joseph's at Newman Arena. Jaques started in place of an injured Alex Tyler.

However, Cornell would respond with a vengeance coming out of the locker room, exploding for a 25-4 run over the first six minutes of second-half play. Senior guard Louis Dale initiated the offensive surge with his first 3 of the game, and Wroblewski and Jacques promptly followed suit, contributing one trey each.

At 14:17, Jacques picked up his first steal of the game, and was intentionally fouled by junior forward Idris Hilliard en route to the hoop. He converted on both free throw attempts and added to his point total less than 10 seconds later with a layup on an assist by senior center Jeff Foote. After being held scoreless during the first 20 minutes of play, Foote managed to pick up seven points in the second frame, and finished with five rebounds, three assists and a block.

Following his teammates’ example, Wittman drained his third 3-pointer of the game to make it 53-34. The Hawks’ bench was then given a technical foul, sending Wittman to the line, who made both free throws to hand the Red its largest lead of the game at 21.

St. Joe’s would make a couple mini-runs in the second half, pulling to within 10 with 8:14 remaining, but nothing the Hawks summoned was enough to derail the Red from procuring a relatively routine 78-66 win.

Despite finding himself in foul trouble, Dale collected five boards and dished out six assists en route to a five-point night, also contributing a block and two steals. Wroblewski and Reeves were the third and fourth Red players in double-figures –– with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Both were 3-for-5 from long-distance range. Cornell received solid play from its bench, specifically in the form of senior forward Mark Coury, who registered six points, six rebounds, a block and a steal.

Cornell committed 19 turnovers, 12 of which came in the first half –– matching Saint Joseph’s total for the game. The Red held the Hawks to 36.4 percent shooting, and just 29.4 percent from beyond the arc. The home team, meanwhile, shot 52.6 percent overall and 45.8 percent from downtown.

Cornell will return to the court on Dec. 20 to take on Davidson in the first round of the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival.

Check www.cornellsun.com for periodic men’s basketball updates, as the team continues play over Winter Break. You can also follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/dailysunsports for live-score updates