ITHACA, N.Y. -- Taking on a member of the Ivy League in a mid-season exhibition for the second year in a row, the Elmira College men's basketball team played to a 70-33 loss against the Big Red from Cornell University inside Newman Arena on Monday night.

Seven different Soaring Eagles (1-12, 0-3 E8) put points on the scoreboard, led by the tandem of Shawn Backus '21 and Rashaad Nurse '22. Backus paced EC and was one shy of the game-high with 13 points to go along with three rebounds, one assist and one steal. Nurse recorded eight points and tied Cornell's Riley Voss with a game-high seven rebounds.

Kyle McCreery '20 and Mason Weir '21 each netted one 3-point field goal for Elmira, while Isiah Charles '21, Quintel Clements '22 and Haven Smith '23 finished with two points apiece to round of EC's scoring.

Although the Big Red (3-10, 0-0 Ivy) improved to 3-0 all-time against Elmira, the Soaring Eagles played their Division I counterparts tough early on. Backus began his strong performance by scoring EC's first six points, which briefly gave the Purple and Gold a 6-4 advantage 3:38 seconds into the contest. Nurse then laid a strong drive through the paint off of the glass for the team's seventh and eighth points, which cut the Cornell lead to 12-8.

From there, Elmira's next six points came from McCreery and Weir from 3-point range. The Soaring Eagles found themselves within six points of the Cornell lead on two more occasions – following a Nurse bucket with seven-and-a-half minutes to go in the opening half (24-18) and after Backus hit two foul shots just under the six-minute mark (26-20) – but the Big Red flexed their muscle by holding EC scoreless over the next 11-plus minutes.

News and Notes

• The win marked Cornell's third of the 2019-20 season, although the game does not count towards Elmira's win-loss record as an exhibition.
• Over the last three years, EC has faced three Division I opponents, including a trip to fellow Ivy League foe Columbia during the 2018-19 campaign.
• Monday's game was not the first-ever matchup between EC and Cornell; the Big Red improved to 3-0 all-time against the Soaring Eagles.
• Prior to tonight's contest, the two sides last met on January 8, 1996, which resulted in a 90-52 win for Cornell.
• Backus' 13 points led EC and were just one shy of Cornell's Riley Voss, who poured in a game-high 14 points.

Up Next
On Friday, January 17, the Soaring Eagles host Houghton College inside Speidel Gymnasium for an Empire 8 Conference tilt at 5:30 p.m. Designated as a Gold Rush Game, special prizes and giveaways will be available for EC students in attendance. Stay tuned for more details in the coming days.