Yale leads Harvard at halftime, 27-23

Yale leads Harvard at halftime of the Ivy League playoff game to determine the conference’s NCAA tournament representative, 27-23.

In front of a Palestra crowd that seems to be leaning Crimson, Harvard raced to an 8-0 lead but the Bulldogs reeled off a 14-3 run in the next 5:45, led by senior forward (and Newton, Mass. native) Greg Kelley’s eight points and two three-pointers off the bench.

Kelley also registered a block of Harvard senior forward Steve Moundou-Missi, who posted seven points and six rebounds, almost on par with his team-leading 21 points and 10 rebounds in a 62-52 loss to Harvard at Lavietes Pavilion last weekend.

The Crimson are shooting just 9-for-22 from the field and an even worse 2-for-7 from the free throw line. Meanwhile, three Elis have committed two fouls – junior forward Justin Sears, senior guard Armani Cotton and senior guard Javier Duren, who sat much of the half with those fouls.

As expected, this game is on pace to finish with neither team scoring more than 54 points, a capstone edition of Ivy uglyball. It’s a beautiful thing, and there are 20 minutes left.