The following article was originally posted on Yahoo Sports website in 2004.
(8) Syracuse 82, Cornell 69
By JOHN KEKIS, AP Sports Writer December 20, 2004
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- While Cornell was hitting from long range, Syracuse simply stole the game.
Hakim Warrick had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Syracuse's pressing defense had 11 steals in forcing 17 second-half turnovers to lead the seventh-ranked Orange past the Big Red 82-69 on Monday night.
It was the 28th consecutive victory for Syracuse (10-1) over Cornell, but it was far from easy.
The Big Red (3-6) managed to stay in the game for nearly 30 minutes with its long-range shooting. Cornell shot 62.5 percent on 3-pointers, finishing 15-for-24, to set a school and Carrier Dome record.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim wasn't exactly pleased with the effort of his Orange, who had allowed that many 3s only once before -- to Southern Illinois in the 1995 NCAA tournament.
``When a team shoots 15-for-24 on 3-pointers, it's a combination of their good shooters and not playing good defense,'' Boeheim said. ``The only threat they had was from the 3-point line, and we still didn't do a good job of guarding the 3.
``Our fullcourt pressure was the best we've played all year. We really did a good job and forced a lot of turnovers for some easy baskets, and that was the difference.''
Syracuse hasn't lost to Cornell since Dec. 4, 1968 -- or eight years before Boeheim became head coach at his alma mater. But the Big Red, who trailed 36-35 at halftime, were dreaming of an upset every time they drained a 3.
``We were excited at the end of the first half,'' said senior guard Cody Toppert,
who was 7-for-10 from 3-point range. ``We knew we were in the game. We wanted to come out and slow it up in the second half and maintain our poise.''
That didn't happen.
Toppert, who finished with 23 points and seven assists, had all four of his turnovers in the second half and junior forward Lenny Collins committed eight turnovers, six after the break.
``You would love to win a game like this,'' Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. ``I'm disappointed in the way we lost it. I thought if we kept our composure in the backcourt that we could have made a nice run and they might get a little tight and things happen.''
Cornell was within 53-44 after a layup by Ryan Rourke with 11:37 left, but Terrence Roberts then had eight points and a block, Warrick hit a hook off the glass, Gerry McNamara scored on a driving layup, and Josh Pace hit a runner in the lane after a turnover to boost the lead to 66-49 with 6:23 left.
``Coach told us that we have to come out and play like we played our first game against Northern Colorado,'' Roberts, who had all of his career-high 16 points in the second half, said of the season opener when the Orange opened a 24-0 lead. ``We have to come out and keep that same intensity and not go up and down the scale.''
Cornell made seven 3-pointers and only one layup over the final 9:14 but never got closer than 12 points the rest of the game.
``We came out a little flat and they did a good job of jumping on us, executing, running and controlling the tempo,'' said Warrick, who notched his sixth double-double of the season. ``Our performance tonight took another step back.''
Pace had 16 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.
McNamara, the Orange's second-leading scorer with a 14.8 average, landed awkwardly after taking a shot and sprained his left ankle with 4:23 remaining in the first half. He played 11 minutes in the second half and finished with eight points.
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The following article was originally posted on Yahoo Sports website in 2004.
Northeastern 88, Cornell 85 - November 21, 2004
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) -- Juan Barea scored 35 points and made the winning basket with 0.9 seconds remaining Saturday night in Northeastern's 88-85 victory over Cornell in the third-place game of the Marist Classic.
Barea scored Northeastern's last 14 points and shot 6-of-12 from 3-point range. He added five assists, five rebounds and two steals. Backcourt mate Marcus Barnes added 23 points and four assists for the Huskies (1-1).
Cody Toppert had 20 points and five assists for Cornell (0-2). Eric Taylor had 14 points and 16 rebounds for his sixth career double-double, and Lenny Collins and Graham Dow also scored 14 points each. The Big Red connected on 55 percent of their field goals, but committed 13 turnovers compared to six for Northeastern.
Cornell led by seven with 3:02 to play before Barea made three straight 3-pointers over a span of 1:14. He then hit a pair of free throws to tie it 85-85 with 49 seconds left and followed that with a step-back 3 that won it.
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Originally posted on the Harvard Athletics website
Toppert Triggers Cornell's Comeback Run
Published On Wednesday, February 04, 2004 12:00 AM
By NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED
Crimson Staff Writer
On Friday night, Cornell guard Cody Toppert not only scored the most points of anyone on the floor. He also recorded the biggest ones.
After a steal and a fast-break layup by freshman guard Jim Goffredo put Harvard up seven with just 14 seconds to play in the first half, it appeared the Crimson would salvage the momentum heading into the locker room, despite the fact that its once sizeable 14-point lead had shrunk by half.
But the Big Red raced up the floor and Toppert nailed a three with five seconds remaining to move Cornell to within four at halftime, 39-35.
Just over 2:30 into the second half, he struck again. With his team trailing 45-40, Toppert received the ball on the left wing and fired up a three. Harvard junior captain Jason Norman rushed out to put a hand in Toppert’s face, but fouled him in the process. The shot fell and so did the subsequent free throw—a four-point play that put Cornell into position to snatch the lead back from the Crimson.
“The rhythm of the second half for Cornell started because of that play,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “It was absolutely a huge bucket for them.”
The Big Red began to seize control of the game from that point forward, but couldn’t push its lead into double digits. With just under 7:30 remaining in the game, Toppert capitalized on a Goffredo turnover, pushed the ball up the floor and nailed a long three from the left wing, increasing the Cornell lead to 11. The trifecta ended whatever hopes Harvard had of sustaining the Big Red charge and staying in the contest.
“We didn’t have many answers for [Toppert],” Sullivan said.
Double Trouble
After the first half against Cornell, sophomore power forward Matt Stehle had five points and six rebounds, putting him on pace to capture his third double-double of the season.
By the time he fouled out with just 40.6 seconds left in the game, he had secured that double-double—and a whole lot more.
Stehle made an immediate impact for the Crimson after the intermission, scoring Harvard’s first six points of the second half while the Crimson pushed the lead to seven at 45-38. After the Big Red seized a one-point lead, Stehle answered once again, grabbing an offensive rebound off a miss by sophomore point guard Michael Beal and laying it back in while drawing a foul.
“It was good to see him be effective in the low post and see him being aggressive going for offensive rebounds,” Sullivan said. “It was really good for us to see Matt staying under the net, grabbing the offensive boards, putting them back up and drawing the contact.”
Cornell managed to open up a two-possession lead later in the half, but Stehle responded by hitting a jumper and a layup to bring the Crimson back within two each time.
Despite his 15 points and 10 boards in the second half—20 and 16 for the game, respectively—Stehle could not keep Harvard from falling off the frenetic pace that heavily favored the Big Red’s style of play.
Stehle followed up his stellar performance Friday night with an 11-point, eight-rebound outing on Saturday against Columbia, giving him a combined 31 points and 24 rebounds for the weekend.
Gone Foul
In what has become a season-long theme, Harvard found itself in foul trouble once again, committing 54 fouls on the weekend—the second-most fouls it has committed in consecutive games this season.
The effects of the foul problems were immediately evident after the departure of Beal late in the first half of each game.
With 4:31 left before halftime and Harvard leading by 12 over Cornell, Beal picked up his second foul, forcing him to take a seat. In Beal’s absence the Crimson quickly committed two turnovers and went without a field goal for 4:17 while seeing its 12-point lead dwindle to four.
“[When Beal came out], we not only lost our momentum, but we also lost our aggressiveness,” Sullivan said. “I think part of it is having a young team. But we’ve talked to the guys a lot about not getting discouraged and fighting their way through things.”
On Saturday night against Columbia, the situation was quite similar, as Beal left the game after picking up his second foul with just 3:20 remaining in the first half and the Crimson ahead by 12. By halftime, the Harvard lead had shrunk to just five as the Lions seized the momentum heading into the break.
Beal didn’t end up fouling out of either game, but the damage had already been done. The Big Red and the Lions survived their poor first-half play due to their ability to disrupt the fluid Crimson offense by forcing one of its integral components to the bench.
“Anytime your team is in foul trouble it makes you play a lot softer,” Beal said. “In the beginning of the [Cornell] game, we were doing really well because we were playing really aggressively…but when they got in the double bonus, we had to back off.”
—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.
Toppert's late trey lifts Explorers to win
By Tribune Staff
Link: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080104/SPORTS/801040329/1006/SPORTS
The Great Falls Explorers played perhaps their best eight minutes of the Continental Basketball Association season to open Thursday night's game against the Minot Skyrockets.
But it took a late 3-pointer by southpaw guard Cody Toppert to earn a 96-95 victory for coach Scott Wednman's Explorers before about 400 fans at Four Seasons Arena.
The Explorers (6-15) outscored Minot 23-5 to open the contest at Four Seasons Arena, but the Skyrockets (12-6) rebounded with a vengeance to grab the lead in the second quarter with a 21-1 spree.
The teams were close the entire second half before the 6-4 Toppert nailed a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to give Great Falls the lead. Minot missed a shot with two seconds to play as Great Falls won five of seven points and salvaged a split of the two-game series.
Toppert scored 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting for coach Scott Wedman's Explorers. Nate Green added 17 and Marlyn Bryant had 15.
Marshall Phillips scored 17 of his 26 points in the first half to pace Minot. Leading scorer Ronnie Fields sat out his second straight game with illness.
The Explorers finish their brief three-game homestand Saturday night against the Butte Daredevils, and the game will start at 7:05 p.m., an hour later than usual.
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2001-2002: Cornell (NCAA): 27 games: 10.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.0spg, FGP:37.4%, 3FGP:34.2%, FT:91.4%
2002-2003: Cornell (NCAA): 27 games: 9.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.0apg, 0.7spg, FGP:40.8%, 3FGP:34.0%, FT:73.3%
2003-2004: Cornell (NCAA): 27 games: 14.6ppg, 3.8rpg, 1.4apg, 0.8spg, FGP:39.4%, 3FGP:35.8%, FT:84.0%
2004-2005: Cornell (NCAA): 27 games: 11.0ppg, 3.0rpg, 1.9apg, 1.0spg, FGP:41.2%, 3FGP:35.1%, FT:87.2%
2005: VCU Invitational Showcase
2005 July: Southern California Summer Pro League (JBJ Sports team) 6 Games 14ppg, 5rpg, 3apg
2005-2006: Alb. Thunderbirds (D-League) 26 Games: 3.7ppg, 1.1rpg, 1.3apg, 0.5spg, FGP:33.8%, 3FGP:35.3%, FT:75.0%
2005-2006: Taranaki Mountain Airs (NZL-NBL): 13 Games: 22.1ppg, 4.7rpg, 2.5apg, 2.0spg, FGP:42.1%, 3FGP:34.1%, FT:86.5%
2006-2007: Barreirnese (Portugal): 14 Games: 9.7ppg, 1.3rpg, 1.3apg, FGP:40.5%, 3FGP:32.6%, FT:78.3%
