Rob Browne

Columbia women’s basketball pulls away to win at Harvard, 71-63

by

Columbia women’s basketball, which clinched a slot in the Ivy League Tournament earlier in the weekend, used an 11-0 run late in the fourth quarter to pull away from Harvard in a 71-63 win in a nationally televised game at a sold-out Lavietes Pavilion Sunday afternoon.

The Lions (18-5, 9-1 Ivy) swept the season series from the Crimson and remain in sole possession of second place, one game behind No. 25 Princeton with four games left in the regular season. Despite the defeat, Harvard (14-9, 7-3) maintains its hold on third place, two games over Brown, but its chances at the No. 1 seed are quickly slipping away.

Read more

Harvard men’s basketball escapes Columbia, 80-75, to sweep season series

by

Following a Friday night loss to Cornell, the dreaded bus trip from Ithaca to Morningside Heights and a nine-point deficit midway through the second half of Saturday night’s contest, Harvard men’s basketball stormed back to defeat Columbia by five, 80-75, and left Levien Gymnasium tied with the Lions in league play.

Both teams are in fourth place in the Ivy League, but the Crimson (13-9, 4-5 Ivy) swept the season series and presently hold the fourth seed for the Ivy League Tournament with only five games to go.

Read more

Columbia men’s basketball cruises to 83-69 win at Brown

by

A career-best 17 points from Columbia men’s basketball senior forward Josh Odunowo led the Lions to a huge 83-69 road win over Brown at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.

Columbia (12-8, 3-4 Ivy) was in control for most of the game, using 11-2, 9-0 and 12-0 runs in a 17-minute period overlapping the two halves to open up an insurmountable 18-point lead and remain in fourth place in its quest for the program’s first-ever appearance in the Ivy League Tournament.

Read more

Cornell men’s basketball pulls away from Harvard in the second half to remain unbeaten in Ivy League play

by

After hard-fought wins for both teams on Friday night, Cornell men’s basketball looked to use its depth, while Harvard hoped its physical defense would be the difference in the second night of the opening weekend of back-to-back contests.

While the two teams slugged it out in the first half, the Big Red’s relentless roster wore down the Crimson over the final 20 minutes and came away with an 89-76 win in front of an Alumni Night crowd that featured NCAA president and Ivy Basketball Legend Charlie Baker.

Read more

Columbia/Harvard Friday night matchups: Crimson men and Lions women prevail

by

On the first night of the Ivy League’s opening back-to-back weekend, the Columbia women hosted Harvard, while the Crimson men welcomed the Lions.

When the dust cleared on Friday evening, both home teams held serve in competitive contests.

With the wins, the Lions women (14-5, 5-1 Ivy) claimed sole possession of second place and the Crimson men (11-7. 2-3) sat in a fourth-place tie with Brown.

The Harvard (11-8, 4-2) women dropped to a third-place tie with Brown, while the Lions (10-8, 1-4) men fell into a sixth-place tie with Dartmouth and Penn.

Read more

Dartmouth men’s basketball nabs first Ivy League win of season, 75-71, over Brown

by

Another weekend of Brown men’s basketball, another tale of two halves.

The Bears took a big lead in the opening frame and held off a furious Harvard rally two weeks ago.  Last weekend, Bruno was the team making the oh-so-close comeback after Cornell jumped out to a big league.

This Saturday, the Bears were up 14 in the first half and 11 at the break, but Dartmouth completed the comeback to earn a hard-fought 75-71 Alumni Day win at Leede Arena.

The Big Green’s first Ancient Eight victory on the season for Dartmouth (5-12, 1-3 Ivy), coupled with other Saturday afternoon results, tied them with Brown (5-14, 1-3), Columbia, Harvard and Penn for fourth place.

Read more

Cornell men’s basketball holds off Brown second-half rally, 84-83

by

On Monday, Brown men’s basketball built up a big second half lead at Harvard and held on in the final minute for a two-point win. Five days later, however, the Bears found itself on the other end of that formula and came up one-point short against Cornell in an 84-83 defeat at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

The Big Red (13-3, 3-0 Ivy), winners of three straight league contests for the first time since their Sweet 16 2009-10 season, finished the day tied with Princeton and Yale at the top of the Ancient Eight standings, while the Bears (5-13, 1-2) were knotted in fourth place with Harvard and Penn.

Read more

Brown men’s basketball holds on at Harvard, 74-72, for first Ivy League win

by

Harvard men’s basketball stormed back from a late second-half 16-point deficit to make it a one- possession game in the final 80 seconds, but Brown hung on for a 74-72 Martin Luther King Jr. Day victory at Lavietes Pavilion.

Brown’s first Ancient Eight win of the year puts Bruno (5-12, 1-1 Ivy) in a tie with Penn for fourth place, while winless Harvard (9-6, 0-2) finds itself at the bottom of the standings with Columbia and Dartmouth.

Read more

Columbia women’s basketball defeats Cornell to go 2-0 in Ivy League play

by

It wasn’t the prettiest game, but Columbia women’s basketball still cruised to an 82-53 victory over Cornell Saturday afternoon at Levien Gymnasium.

With the team’s ninth straight win, the Lions (11-4, 2-0 Ivy) are undefeated in league play and tied with Princeton and Brown at the top of the standings. Cornell (6-8, 0-2), meanwhile, is winless in the conference and knotted up with Yale and Dartmouth at the bottom of the table.

In last year’s regular season finale, Columbia clinched its first-ever Ivy League title at home but was kept on its heels by Cornell. The Lions had to go an extra five minutes for the historic victory. The difficult win dropped the Lions’ NET rating and moved them to the No. 2 seed in the Ivy League Tournament.

With a quick turnaround on Monday against Yale and a showdown at Princeton set for next Saturday, Columbia looked to avoid a repeat of last year’s Empire State battle.

Read more

Brown men’s basketball rally falls short in 69-65 defeat at Stony Brook

by

STONY BROOK, N.Y. — For the second straight game, Brown men’s basketball was plagued by inconsistency and found itself in a double-digit second-half hole. Unlike last week’s victory over Siena, however, Bruno couldn’t muster any last-second magic and fell to Stony Brook, 69-65, at Island Federal Credit Union Arena.

The Bears (4-10) started with a different rotation on Friday night, adding senior guard Kimo Ferrari and sophomore wing Alexander Lesburt Jr., in place of Felix Kloman and Aaron Cooley, respectively. In addition, Malachi Ndur, who averages over 12 minutes a game, only played four minutes in the second half.

According to coach Mike Martin, who spoke with Ivy Hoops Online following the game, the changes were due to internal team policy issues.

Read more