Yale, Columbia Advance in CIT, Meet Wednesday at Levien

After Saturday night victories, Yale and Columbia will meet in New York on Wednesday for the right to advance to the 2014 CIT Final Four.
After Saturday night victories, Yale and Columbia will meet in New York on Wednesday for the right to advance to the 2014 CIT Final Four.

Columbia: The Lions” historic season continues after a 14-0 second half run turned a 51-45 deficit into a 59-51 lead. Yielding only five points to Eastern Michigan in the game”s final nine minutes, Columbia finally figured out how to stop the Eagles” main weapon, Raven Lee (26 pts). Lee went 1-8 down the stretch as the Lions took the lead for good.

Alex Rosenberg finished with 15 points and 7 assists, while Cory Osetkowski went for 10 timely points and 7 rebounds. In the backcourt, Maodo Lo scored 15 points, while Steve Frankoski added 11 off the bench, nailing three treys.

The Lions move on to face a familiar foe, the Yale Bulldogs, in the CIT Quarterfinals on Wednesday night at Levien.

Yale: The Bulldogs went into Worcester, home of the Patriot League”s third place finishers, Holy Cross, and emerged with a hard-fought victory. Justin Sears led the way with 18 points as the Elis turned a three point halftime deficit into a 71-66 win.

The game was in doubt down to the final moments. With 1:13 to go, Armani Cotton stepped into a big three that put Yale up 68-66. Holy Cross then missed three shots before Yale secured possession with :08 to go. Javier Duren hit one of two, giving the Crusaders one final shot to tie. The attempt was off though, and Duren hit two free throws to provide the final margin.

With the win, James Jones has now won 207 games as the head man in New Haven, passing Joe Vancisin as the all-time winningest coach in Yale history.

The Bulldogs will travel to Levien for the second time this year on Wednesday for the CIT quarterfinals, looking to reverse the 62-46 February defeat that started Yale on its end-of-season skid.

3 thoughts on “Yale, Columbia Advance in CIT, Meet Wednesday at Levien”

  1. Anyone have any info re: internet video feed for Princeton vs. Fresno State? CBSSportsNet is broadcasting two of the four games tonight but not the big one!!!

  2. Just an all-around fantastic game tonight. Yale absolutely deserved the hard fought win.

    The stars for both teams were great, with Yale’s Javier Duren the best with 33 points and 9 rebounds. He also hit 7 of 8 free throws in the last minute of play. Probably the biggest play of the night was his offensive rebound off his one missed free throw in that last minute with Yale up 2. He was able to get right back to the line and make it a two possession game.

    Best of luck to the Bulldogs in their semi-final game.

    For those who were able to watch or listen to the game, Dalen Cuff interviewed John Feinstein during halftime. In addition to Feinstein’s memory of attending Columbia basketball game as a child, he talked about the amazing atmosphere of the game and the overall strength of the Ivy League.

    I have to echo Mr. Feinstein. Although my Quakers are running a distant 7th, next year should be an incredible season. Harvard, of course, is the class of the field, but Columbia and Yale should be better than this year. Princeton and Brown, although losing several important players, should have the pieces in place to be a very competitive teams. Add an improving Dartmouth into the mix and there should be few easy games for anyone in 2015.

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