ITHACA, N.Y. – Damon Sherman-Newsome registered a team-high 19 points but it wasn't enough to spark a Colgate men's basketball victory as they dropped a 58-52 decision to nearby rival Cornell here Tuesday night.
 
Sherman-Newsome chipped in five boards, while Luke Roh led all scorers with eight rebounds. Roh also added 10 points to go along with junior Austin Tillotson's 11 points, which closed out the Raider scorers in double-figures.
 
Throughout the game, Colgate led by as many as 17 points when it jumped out to a 23-6 edge to start the game. Sherman-Newsome scored the contest's opening eight points creating the early advantage for the Raiders.
 
Colgate then held the Big Red to just one layup in the beginning 11 minutes until Shonn Miller hit Cornell's first jumper.
 
The Big Red closed the deficit down to seven points with a layup from Galal Cancer to open the second half but that would be as close as they would come until midway through the period. Cancer then sparked a 19-3 Cornell rally that saw the Big Red take over the lead for the first time in the contest with a little less than five minutes to play.
 
Colgate would get to within one at 49-48 with four minutes left but wasn't able to jump-start a rally of its own as it saw Cornell finish 5-of-8 from the free throw line to steal the come-from-behind victory.

The Raiders finished the game hitting 23 of their 51 attempts from the floor for 45 percent shooting on the night. They added 5-of-15 from behind the arc for 33 percent shooting from long. Cornell went 19-for-49 from the floor to go along with its 6-of-20 shooting from the 3-point line.
 
Colgate is back in action Saturday at Campbell for its first game of the Buckeye Classic. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
Bottom Line
• Cornell 58, Colgate 52
 
Facts & Figures
• Sherman-Newsome continued his double-digit scoring streak, pushing it to five-straight games, dating back to March 1 of last season.
• The senior from Anchorage, Alaska, drained eight of his 14 field goal attempts and added 2-of-4 from long.
• Roh notched his second double-figure scoring night in as many games with 10 points. He also pulled down a team-high eight boards to help the Raiders' total.
• Tillotson went 5-of-12 from the floor and added one trey for his 11 points. The junior also handed out a team-high five assists in the game.
• Cornell slightly won the rebound margin by 36-33, and the Big Red had another advantage at the free throw line (14-of-26 to 1-of-7).
• Alex Ramon posted a personal-best seven points and four rebounds in the game. He did not miss a shot going 3-for-3 from the floor and 1-of-1 from behind after the arc.
• Cornell's Devin Cherry registered a game-high 21 points after finishing the game 8-of-15 from the floor and 2-of-5 from downtown. JoJo Fallas added two 3-pointers for his eight points, while Cancer tallied eight of his own to help lead the Big Red.
 
Turning Point
• Colgate's Ramon made it a 13-point Raider advantage with 10:53 remaining in the game after Ethan Jacobs found him inside for an easy layup.
• But Cornell held Colgate to just one 3-pointer over a seven-minute span in which they rallied for a 19-3 swing to take over the lead by three with four minutes to play.
 
Rookie's Career First
• First-year Sean O'Brien hits his first career bucket with 7:33 left on the clock in the opening half.
• The Lafayette Hills, Pennsylvania, native's bucket was a big one as it gave the Raiders their largest lead of the game at 23-6.
 
From the Sources
• Colgate head coach Matt Langel: (On the game) "It's really tough to stomach. For this group, they've worked really hard and I feel badly. I didn't prepare them to play a small lineup and we had to do that at times tonight. All that being said we were up 13 points with 11 minutes left in the game, in a lower scoring contest, you're in pretty good position."
"Obviously Cornell cranked up the pressure and we didn't respond very well. A couple times we got to the rim we didn't finish the plays and we missed some critical free throws. Cornell started to drive to the basket and I credit them for stepping up. Although they didn't shoot a great free throw percentage for the game, they made them when it mattered. Shonn Miller, their all-league player, even though he didn't have an all-league night, stepped up and got them a big basket late in the game."
 
"We just didn't respond as the game started to slip away from us like we needed to. This will be a great lesson for us and we will work like crazy in practice before we head down to North Carolina and then over to Virginia. Hopefully we can learn from this and get better. "
 
Up Next
• Colgate now shifts its attention to Campbell, which is coming off a 86-51 set back to Davidson on Tuesday.
• This away contest with the Camels will be the first game of the Buckeye Classic and is set to tip-off at 2 p.m.
• This will also be the first matchup between these two teams.