Recap: Wisconsin vs. Cornell
Sports Network | March 21, 2010
Jacksonville, FL (Sports Network) - Louis Dale totaled 26 points as 12th- seeded Cornell routed fourth-seeded Wisconsin, 87-69, in the second round of the East Region of the NCAA Tournament.
Ryan Wittman had 24 points and Jeff Foote added 12 points and seven rebounds for the Big Red (29-4), who upset Temple on Friday for their first-ever tournament win and will look to continue their run next Thursday in the regional semifinals, a battle against top-seeded Kentucky in Syracuse.
Cornell is now the lowest-seeded team remaining in the tournament.
"All the experience I had on any team that I ever played on, this game here was as well executed that I couldn't even imagine that we could play that well in the stretches that we did," said Cornell head coach Steve Donahue. "These guys did a remarkable job of staying poised throughout every single possession, had great confidence and great awareness for each other and just executed on both sides of the ball as well as you can do."
Jon Leuer had 23 points and Jason Bohannon added 18 points for the Badgers (24-9), who were coming off a victory over 13th-seeded Wofford on Friday in their 16th appearance in the tournament.
"Cornell did everything that they've been pretty much doing all year," said Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan. "They found different ways to score on us, and it's tough when you shoot 52 percent in the first half and you're still down 12, and you've taken away Foote, and three of the threes that they hit were off of offensive rebounds."
Cornell led the game from start to finish as Wittman and Jon Jaques each got a pair of baskets to start the game. The Big Red built the lead to 12 points on a pair of free throws from Foote for a 16-4 game 5 1/2 minutes in.
"You know, obviously the start is an important part to the game," said Wittman. "It wasn't necessarily us trying to start a game plan of getting me shots right away. I think I just found myself in position coming off some ball screens and stuff."
The Badgers came storming back and Bohannon's consecutive buckets got his team back to within three points, 24-21.
However, the Big Red answered with a 13-4 run which helped the team eventually take a 43-31 lead into the locker room.
Wisconsin opened the second half with a three from Jordan Taylor and, after a Dale three-ball, another long-range bucket from Bohannon made it a nine-point game a bit less than two minutes in.
Cornell, though, scored the next five points and continued to hold Wisconsin at arms length over the next several minutes.
A Trevon Hughes three-point bucket got the Badgers to within 13 points, 67-54, with about 12 1/2 minutes to play, but their offense was silent over the next six minutes as the Big Red scored the next 11 points to take a commanding 78-54 lead on a Wittman layup with under seven minutes to play.
Ryan Evans stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws and a jumper, but it was not enough to stem the tide, as Cornell cruised over the final five minutes to advance.
This was the first-ever meeting between these two schools...Cornell is now 2-5 in the tournament while Wisconsin fell to 21-15...The Badgers have made 12 straight appearances in the tournament, but have only advanced to the Final Four once during that run, in 2000...Evans finished with 11 points and six boards in the loss.
