EASTON, Pa.  – Senior Tyrone Perry's career-high 25-point effort was not enough in the Lafayette men's basketball teams home opener against Cornell by a 90-85 final Friday night in Kirby Sports Center.
 
"We played a much better second half after getting off to a slow start," said head coach Fran O'Hanlon. "Credit to Cornell for shooting really well in the first half, but we fought hard down the stretch and had our chance to win. Our guys showed a lot of heart."
 
After the Leopards jumped out to a quick 11-5 lead, Cornell got its footing and managed to take a lead before the midway point of the first half. The Big Red shot it over 51% from the field in that first half to take an eight-point advantage into the locker room and led by as many as 14 in the period.

It was Perry's hot-hand keeping Lafayette in it early as the Apopka, Florida native completed two four-point plays in the first half, connecting on 3-pointers while drawing contact on two separate occasions. 
 
The Maroon and White were able to claw back into it and grabbed some early momentum in the second as sophomore Kyle Jenkins and Perry connected on back-to-back 3-pointers early in the half.
 
The run turned into a 10-1 streak as junior Neal Quinn got into the action to make it 62-59 with 11:54 remaining.
 
Quinn and Jenkins joined Perry in double figure as Quinn recorded a double-double with 19 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and five assists while Jenkins recorded 14 points and seven rebounds. Junior Leo O'Boyle was the Leopards' hot-hand in the early going and finished the night with 19 points and five rebounds.
 
By the next break, Cornell had stretched its lead back to eight, but freshman CJ Fulton asserted himself into the mix by scoring five-straight points, including a 3-pointer to cut it to four.
 
The Leopards got it within two points twice in the game's final two minutes as both Jenkins and Quinn slammed home big buckets, Quinn's the latter coming with 1:37 remaining.
 
However, Cornell drew up the perfect play out of a timeout to knock down an open 3-pointer to stretch it back to five points in what would be too much to overcome.
Lafayette shot 13-of-14 from the free throw line in the loss and had 22 total assists on 29 made field goals.
 
The schedule does not get any easier, as Lafayette will begin a four-game road trip beginning Tuesday at Penn at 7 p.m. with the game available on ESPN+.
 
For the latest on the Lafayette College men's basketball program, follow the Leopards on Twitter @LafayetteMBB and Instagram @lafayettembb.