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WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the gymnasium where Bill Courtney launched his coaching career, his team made sure he'd leave a get together with his family and friends a winner. A prolific scorer in high school, then at Bucknell, it was the defense he coached that pushed Cornell to a 68-60 win over American on Sunday afternoon at Bender Arena.

The win, Cornell's third in the last four games, improved the Big Red to 7-9. American fell to 5-10 with the loss.

Four Big Red players reached double figures in scoring, but it was the defense that made the difference. American shot just 34 percent from the floor overall and 24 percent from 3-point range and turned the ball over 14 times. Cornell had eight steals, seven in the first half, to lead to an array of easy points.

Johnathan Gray scored 19 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead the Big Red, who also got 15 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks from Shonn Miller and 13 points from Dominick Scelfo in his first collegiate start. Nolan Cressler chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and two steals and Miles Asafo-Adjei directed the offense with six assists. Errick Peck returned to the court after missing two games with an injury and had two points, four rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots and Devin Cherry came off the bench for eight points and four rebounds.

Blake Jolivette had 15 points to lead American, while Daniel Munoz had 13 points and seven assists and Stephen Lumpkins scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds. In all, AU held a 44-36 edge on the backboards, including scooping up 18 offensive boards.

Cornell led by as many as 16 points in the second half and was able to hold on despite some dicey moments in the final three minutes, mainly due to ill-timed free throw misses. Each time, the Big Red responded and walked out with its third straight road win, its longest stretch away from Newman Arena since the 2009-10 campaign.

Like it had in its previous two wins, Cornell set the tone in the first three minutes. Miller had two steals and a blocked shot before the first media timeout and Scelfo got the Big Red off in his first collegiate start. He made his first shots to go into the break with 11 points as the visitors went into the half with a 27-24 lead.

American scored the first four points of the second half to take the lead (28-27) before Cornell took over the next nine minutes of action, embarking on a 23-6 run.  Five different players scored during the run, including eight in a three minute span by Cressler. The Eagles wouldn't get back within a possession, though it cut the 16-point deficit to four points with 41 seconds left. Miller hit a free throw, and after an American miss, got a run-out dunk to seal the win.

Cornell closes out the non-conference slate when it meets Division III foe Old Westbury on Saturday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. in Newman Arena. The Big Red will then open Ivy play with a nationally televised contest against Columbia on Saturday, Jan. 19 at p.m. The game will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network.