Albany, N.Y. -- Senior guard Max Groebe scored 15 points and senior forward Aaron Osgood added 14 as Cornell outscored the UAlbany in the final minutes for a 65-61 win in the season-opening men's basketball contest for both teams on Friday, Nov. 12 at SEFCU Arena.
     Andrew Ferry and Anthony Gatlin added 12 points apiece for the Big Red. UAlbany's Tim Ambrose led all scorers with 20 points off the bench. Logan Aronhalt added 13 points for the Great Danes, who were opening home for the first time since the 2006-07 campaign. Luke Devlin and Mike Black had 10 apiece. Black, a sophomore guard, scored all of his points in the first half as he helped UAlbany build an early 12-point lead at 22-10 before leaving with an ankle injury for the remainder of the contest. The Great Danes led at the half, 37-35.
     With the score tied at 52-52, Groebe hit a 3-pointer to put Cornell in front to stay, at 55-52 with 8:20 remaining. Osgood's bucket with 3:05 left gave the Big Red its biggest lead of eight, at 64-56. UAlbany scored the next five points and had a chance to tie, but Ambrose's driving shot in the lane in the final seconds missed. Ferry added a last-second free throw for Cornell to close the scoring.
    "Our effort was good and we are already better defensively than we were last year," UAlbany coach Will Brown said. "But we gave up too many offensive rebounds and Cornell made some big shots down the stretch. "Mike Black is our best player and we were up nine and had momentum when he went out."
     With Black sidelined, the Big Red, who reached last year's NCAA regional semifinals after winning their third consecutive Ivy League championship, reversed a 26-17 deficit with 11 of the game next's 13 points. Jonathan Gray hit two of his four 3-pointers in the stretch, including one from the top of the arc that drew his team even at 28 apiece.
     "He runs the show for us," said Aronhalt about Black's absence. "It's very tough. We play with him in practice every day. I thought (Jon) Iati and (Ralph) Watts did a good job at the point."
     In the second half, Cornell led 52-46 after Gray canned another three-point field goal from the left corner. But the Great Danes fought back with three consecutive baskets. Aronhalt made a jumper, before Ambrose connected on bank shot from the left side. Devlin, a 6'8" freshman who also grabbed nine rebounds, scored in the lane off Ambrose's feed from left of the key.
     "There were a lot of positives," Devlin stated. "We played hard as a team, pushed the ball on offense and worked on defense. We need to focus more on rebounding. They had too many offensive rebounds and hurt us from the three-point line."

Men's Basketball Video - UAlbany vs. Cornell (11/12/2010) http://fb.me/NNEYe08S

Cornell 65, UAlbany 61 (11/12/10 at Albany, N.Y. (SEFCU Arena)

Cornell 65

Albany 61