ITHACA, N.Y.—The opening possession of Saturday night’s match up between men’s basketball heavyweights Cornell and Harvard was a fairly simple play.

The Big Red’s All-Ivy big man Jeff Foote received the ball in the post, paused, and then found a wide-open Chris Wroblewski, who drained a three-pointer and sent the home crowd into a frenzy.

Though only eight seconds had passed—and Crimson freshman guard Christian Webster would respond with a three of his own—the Crimson’s inability to defend the seven-foot Foote and prevent Cornell’s sharpshooters from getting open looks at the basket would haunt the road team until the final buzzer.

By all accounts, Foote, the most dominant big man in the Ancient Eight, stuffed the box score while stuffing dunks all over the opposition’s frontcourt personnel.

Harvard starters Keith Wright and Doug Miller, clearly at a sizeable physical disadvantage, were unable to stop the Big Red center from backing down his defender and lofting hooks and layups with ease.

Playing in only their second career league game on the road, reserves Andrew Van Nest and Kyle Casey proved to be even less effective on the interior.

The loss of senior forward Pat Magnarelli to a high-ankle sprain sustained last week at Dartmouth certainly did not help the Crimson’s efforts.

“This was a game where we really had to utilize Jeff,” Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. “They scramble around so well on defense that if you continue to do that, it wears you down. We have the luxury of just slowing things down, dumping it inside, making them guard.”

Mostly facing a single defender, Foote still managed to find the open man out on the perimeter—a strength shared by his teammates, as Harvard’s defensive troubles extended beyond just dealing with the big man.

The Big Red distributed the ball with incredible efficiency, continually finding its shooters good opportunities with dribble-drive penetration and stellar perimeter passing on the way to 22 assists.

The talent that had led Cornell to two consecutive Ivy titles was on full display. The 2007-08 Ivy Player of the Year Louis Dale used his quickness to get into the lane, either finishing at the hoop or passing to teammates on the outside. The Crimson’s perimeter defenders often failed to rotate quickly enough, giving the high-powered Big Red offense a chance to flex its muscles.

GIVING IT AWAY

The Crimson turned the ball over 30 times in a loss to Army, and for much of the game, it seemed the squad was intent on reaching that milestone again.

Harvard amassed 14 turnovers in the first half alone, doing so in almost every way possible.

Whether it was drawing offensive fouls, stripping penetrators on dribble drives, or picking off simply lazy passes, Cornell applied a defensive pressure that the opposing squad could not handle.