Kuakumensah, Bears Beat Cornell in OT
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Sophomore Cedric Kuakumensah scored a career high 30 points and freshman forward Leland King added a career high 23 points to lead Brown to an 81-75 overtime win over Cornell in an Ivy League game at Newman Arena.
Brown improves to 14-10, 6-4 in the Ivy League, while Cornell falls to 2-22, 1-9 in league play. The Bears are in sole possession of third place in the Ivy standings.
Cornell held a 67-65 lead late in regulation when Kuakumensah scored on a lay-up with 23 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime, 67-67.
The overtime period remained scoreless until Brown freshman Tavon Blackmon connected on the second of two free throws with 3:07 left to play, giving Brown the lead for good, 68-67. Freshman Steven Spieth’s lay-up off an inbounds pass gave the Bears a 70-67 lead, and Blackmon hit two free throws with 1:48 remaining to extend the Bears’ lead to 72-67.
Brown led, 74-71, after Nolan Cressler hit four free throws for Cornell and Spieth scored on a fast break lay-up. Senior Sean McGonagill, who struggled shooting the ball all day, gave Brown control of the game with 50 seconds remaining, 77-71, with a long trey.
Kuakumensah scored his 30 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field and completed the double-double with a game high 14 rebounds. He had a school record seven blocked shots against the Big Red and set a new single season Brown record with 70 blocked shots, breaking his own mark of 66 blocks set last year.
King also posted a double-double for the Bears, adding 12 rebounds to go with his 23 points. Spieth and McGonagill finished with nine points each for the Bears.
Cressler led all scorers with 34 points for the Big Red on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, 6-of-9 from beyond the three point arc and 10-0f 14 shooting from the free throw line. Devin Cherry chipped in with 17 points and 10 assists.
The Bears were sluggish defensively in the opening 20 minutes and trailed by as many as six points, 33-27, on a trey by Darryl Smith with 3:20 left. A late Brown run kept the score close at the half, trailing 36-34 at intermission. Kuakumensah and King combined for 31 of Brown’s 34 first half points.
Brown continues its four-game road trip, traveling to Philadelphia, PA on Friday, February 28 to battle Penn at the Palestra in a game nationally televised by NBC Sports (7:30 pm), and then on Princeton, New Jersey to face Princeton on Saturday, March 1 at 6:00 pm.
