ITHACA, N.Y.- The Lafayette men's basketball team fought to the final minutes against Cornell 73-68 on Sunday afternoon in Newman Arena.

Lafayette's top performance came through junior Kyle Jenkins with 17 points on 63.6 percent shooting from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers and eight rebounds. Leo O'Boyle (14 points) and TJ Berger (11 points) also had strong performances.

The Big Red made an 8-3 opening run with Ryan Zambie knocking down a 3-pointer for Lafayette just one minute into the game. An O'Boyle 3-pointer and free throw closed the gap to two, 9-7 at 15:03. O'Boyle netted back-to-back 3-pointers to give Lafayette its first lead of the game with 3:39 left in the opening half, 32-30. The remainder of the first half saw more back-and-forth play with the Leopards slightly behind and TJ Berger threw one in from deep to earn a 41-41 tie as the buzzer sounded.

Justin Vander Baan opened the second half with a pair of layups, kick-starting a 12-9 Lafayette run to put the Leopards up 53-50 at 13:21. Cornell's Nazir Williams tallied back-to-back 3-pointers to steal the lead just a minute later. CJ Fulton netted a 3-pointer with 9:54 remaining to forge a 58-58 tie. The Leopards then went on a 9-6 run to hold a 67-62 lead with just under five minutes remaining.

Cornell had a spurt of seven free throws beginning at 1:37, four by Chris Manon, to seal the game. By the end, neither team held a lead of more than six points.

Cornell featured a balanced offensive attach, with three shooters totaling 12 points a piece: Williams, Greg Dolan and Manon. The Big Red shot 42.6 percent from the field and had 34 points in the paint and 29 off the bench.

The Maroon and White shot 40 percent overall from the field while tallying 26 points in the paint and 20 off the bench. Lafayette out-rebounded Cornell 36-35, with a tie at 10 on the offensive glass. 

The Leopards will travel to  another Ivy League foe, Princeton, on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tip-off.

For the latest on the Lafayette College men's basketball program, follow the Leopards on Twitter @LafayetteMBB and Instagram @lafayettembb.