GAME NOTES: The Drexel Dragons and the Cornell Big Red will try to salvage their stays in the Charleston Classic when the programs square off in the event's seventh-place game at TD Arena on Sunday afternoon.

After falling to the consolation side of the bracket with an opening-round loss to Miami-Florida (66-46), Drexel dropped a close matchup with USC on Friday, 72-70, to dip to 0-4 on the season.

Cornell started the season off on the right foot with wins in two of its first three to match its win total from the entire 2013-14 season (2-26), but its stay in the Classic has been underwhelming, as it suffered losses to South Carolina (69-45) and Penn State (72-71) to drop to the seventh-place game.

Drexel has won two of the three all-time meetings with Cornell, although the Big Red won most recently during the 2009-10 season, 61-54.

The Dragons held a comfortable 14-point lead early in the second half on Friday but fell victim to a 23-8 USC run to let it back in the game, and they ultimately surrendered the game-winning bucket with under four minutes to play to complete the collapse. After shooting a red-hot 63.6 percent from the field in the first half, they faltered to just 40.9 percent after intermission, and they were also plagued by losing the turnover battle, 21-9. Damion Lee did all he could to lift the team to victory, knocking down 8-of-11 from 3-point range for 32 points while playing all 40 minutes, but one of his few misses from long range came on the game-tying attempt as time expired. Rodney Williams scored 14 points in the setback and Tavon Allen added 10 points and eight assists.

Just like Drexel, Cornell also coughed up a big lead on Friday, as it saw an 11-point advantage midway through the second half evaporate down the stretch. It still held a four-point lead with just 14 seconds left after a pair of Galal Cancer free throws, but after a PSU 3-pointer and a turnover, the squad allowed the game-winning bucket as time expired to suffer the heartbreaking loss. Although Cornell was nearly automatic from the free-throw line on the day (21-of-22), it shot just 40.4 percent from the field and lost the rebounding battle, 37-28. Robert Hatter and Cancer both poured in 17 points, Shonn Miller contributed 15 points and Devin Cherry tallied 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

On the season, the Big Red have played very well on the defensive end of the court by allowing just 65.8 ppg on 38.9 percent field goal shooting, but they have not been able to take advantage with their offensive production (.379 FG percentage, 62.6 ppg). Miller (14.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg) is a mainstay in the paint, Cherry (11.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 4.8 apg) stuffs the stat sheet on a regular basis and Hatter (12.6 ppg) and Cancer (12.2 ppg) are impressive scorers as well.

In what is expected to be a low-scoring game, Cornell's superior playmakers will give it the upper hand against the winless Dragons.