Harvard Delays Cornell's Title Bid

Needing only two wins to clinch its second straight Ivy title, Cornell (19-9, 9-3 Ivy) traveled to Dartmouth and Harvard in its quest to seal the deal. When all was said and done, the Big Red were unable to punch their ticket to March Madness.

Friday night’s game in Hanover went according to plan, as the Big Red simply outclassed Dartmouth (9-17, 7-5) in every facet, cruising to a 75-57 win. After a three-pointer by David Rufful cut the Cornell lead to only two, the Big Red unleashed its balanced attack, closing the half with a 12-4 run.

In the second half, momentum seemed to shift sides as Dartmouth cut its deficit to three. But the Big Red stayed calm, hitting three straight three-pointers to put the game out of reach.

Cornell had four players in double figures, led by Ryan Wittman’s 20 points and six rebounds. The Big Red were also able to stymie Dartmouth’s offense, holding them to a 34.6 shooting percentage.

Looking to spoil Cornell’s title run, Harvard (13-13, 5-7) received solid performances from Drew Housman and Jeremy Lin as the Crimson edged the Big Red 71-70.

After Wittman hit one of two free throws to give Harvard a narrow one-point advantage with 1:46 to go, neither team was able to score down the stretch. Cornell had one more opportunity to take the lead, but Louis Dale’s last-second shot was deflected by Keith Wright to secure the victory.

Harvard shot an astounding 52.3 percent in the win. Both Lin and Housman scored 20 points and had four assists in leading the Crimson to its first weekend sweep of Columbia and Cornell in the last seven years. Wittman led the way for Cornell with 24 points.

With an opening to climb back into contention, Princeton (12-12, 7-4) got the job done, sweeping Brown (7-19, 1-11) and Yale (12-13, 7-5) over the weekend. After falling behind early on Friday, the Bears mounted a frantic first-half rally, going on a 13-4 run to end the period. But Princeton’s defense was superb in the second half, holding Brown to 24 percent shooting, including 1-for-12 from downtown, en route to a 56-48 victory.

Coming off the bench, freshman Douglas Davis scored 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting to lead Princeton. Brown was carried by Peter Sullivan’s 21 points and Chris Skrelja’s 16 rebounds.

Just as in Friday’s match, Princeton jumped out to a huge lead against the Elis, scoring the first 14 points of the contest before Alex Zampier hit a three-pointer with 13:57 to go in the first half, triggering a 13-0 Yale run.

The Tigers built a seven-point halftime lead and held on for a 62-54 triumph. In the second half, the Tiger offense truly clicked as they shot 65 percent from the field to put the Bulldogs away.

Dan Mavraides led the way with 16 points and six rebounds. Davis had another solid outing, scoring 12 points off the bench. Yale had a big game from Zampier, who scored 19 points in 34 minutes of action. Prior to seeing their three-game winning streak snapped at Princeton, the Elis were able to defeat Penn (9-16, 5-6), 87-79. A see-saw first half put the teams nearly even at the half, but an offensive explosion by Yale in the second half put the Bulldogs ahead for good.

The Bulldogs shot a solid 62.1 percent as they scored 51 second-half points, including 40 from inside the paint. Yale had a solid performance again from Zampier (19 points) and Ross Morin (20 points, eight boards). Penn was led by 24 points off the bench from Harrison Gaines.
The weekend nearly turned into disaster for the Quakers as they got off to a poor start against Brown, who took a 13-point lead midway through the first half. But Penn battled back and headed into halftime down by only two.

Gaines again played a key role, scoring 14 points and grabbing six rebounds in the second half as Penn prevailed down the stretch, 64-54.
Kevin Egee scored 13 points for the Quakers. Matt Mullery paced Brown with a double-double in the loss (19 points and 10 rebounds).