After another exciting weekend of Ivy hoops that saw all the home teams holding serve, the league standings have a tie at the top, and seven teams are separated by only two games.
Yale continued its dominance of Princeton, winning for the eighth time in their last nine matchups. Meanwhile, Penn, losers of three straight league contests, won its third straight over Harvard in a must-win game at the Palestra.
Cornell, missing Nazir Williams, took care of Brown, which was without Kalu Anya, Dan Friday and Malachi Ndur. Dartmouth continued its strong league play with a victory over Columbia, its third league win it its last four contests and finds itself over .500 at the halfway point for the first time since 2009.
Saturday results
Yale over Princeton, 87-65
Penn over Harvard, 83-68
Cornell over Brown, 80-73
Dartmouth over Columbia, 83-73
Standings
Cornell 5-2 (15-5, overall)
Princeton 5-2 (14-6)
Yale 4-3 (14-6)
Dartmouth 4-3 (8-13)
Harvard 3-4 (12-9)
Brown 3-4 (10-10)
Penn 3-4 (11-11)
Columbia 1-6 (6-16)
The second half of the schedule starts with a big back-to-back weekend, highlighted by a matchup between the league leaders at Jadwin Gymnasium and Yale looking for revenge against Dartmouth at Leede Arena.
Fri., Feb. 3
Yale at Harvard, 5:00 p.m.
Brown at Dartmouth, 6:00 p.m.
Columbia at Penn, 7:00 p.m.
Cornell at Princeton, 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 4
Yale at Dartmouth, 6:00 p.m.
Brown at Harvard, 6:00 p.m.
Columbia at Princeton, 6:00 p.m.
Cornell at Penn, 6:00 p.m.
Below are 10 of the top performances from the weekend: –
Dame Adelekun (Dartmouth)
The 6-foot-8 senior forward from Gastonia, N.C. scored a Leede Arena-record 41 points in the Big Green’s win over Columbia on Saturday afternoon on 14-for-18 shooting from the field and a 13-for-19 effort from the charity stripe. He also added 10 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. His previous high was 21 points, set earlier this year against Fordham on opening night. Adelekun is now tops in the league in shooting percentage (68.1%), fifth in scoring (16.7) and fifth in rebounding (6.6).
Jordan Dingle (Penn)
The Quakers’ All-Ivy guard had another huge game, scoring 27 points on an 8-for-18 effort from the field and a near perfect seven of eight from the charity stripe. This was his fourth game in row with 20-plus points and the 17th time he has added that many points in his last 18 contests. For anyone concerned with his three-point shooting after going 1-for-16 against Dartmouth and Princeton, he has now connected on 14 of his last 27 attempts from downtown. The junior from Valley Stream, N.Y. continues to lead the Ivies in scoring (23.3) and his 23.8-point season average is second in the nation.
Tosan Evbuomwan (Princeton)
Despite being on the losing end of Saturday’s contest at Yale, the reigning Ivy Player of the Year was the KenPom Game MVP with team highs of 15 points on 7-for-9 shooting, six assists (two turnovers) and five rebounds. After his first of potentially three encounters with the league’s deepest frontcourt, the 6-foot-8 forward from London is first in assists (5.3), third in assists/turnovers (1.9), fifth in scoring (15.6), seventh in field-goal shooting (53%), 10th in rebounding (5.3).
Chris Ledlum (Harvard)
Ledlum, one of the league’s top scorers and rebounders, had another stat-stuffing game with a team-high 21 points and six rebounds in Saturday’s loss to Penn. This was the 17th time he led the Crimson in scoring this season and the 10th time he has totaled more than 20 points in a game. The 6-foot-6 forward from Brooklyn presently is second in points (19.0) and boards (9.3) during league play.
Chris Manon (Cornell)
Manon, arguably one of the Ivy’s best sixth men, started his first game of the season and led the Big Red with 23 points on 10-for-17 shooting and 11 rebounds, career-highs in both. During the game’s decisive second half, in which Cornell outscored Brown 47-38, the 6’5″ junior forward from New Milford, N.J. scored 17 points and grabbed eight boards. In addition, the KenPom Game MVP added three steals and two blocks in 22 minutes of action. The Red’s key reserve, who averages only 18.7 minutes per game in conference games, is second in steals (1.7), sixth in shooting percentage (55.8%), and 11th in scoring (13).
Max Martz (Penn)
The junior forward added 19 points and six rebounds in the Quakers victory over Harvard. Fourteen of Martz’s points came in the decisive first half, helping Penn open up an insurmountable 50-35 advantage. The Upper Arlington, Ohio native also added strong interior defense that limited the Crimson to 34% shooting from inside the arc. If that wasn’t enough, he bounced back from a massive flagrant-one foul by Chris Ledlum when attempting a slam dunk with just over a minute left in the game. After struggling with a total of seven points and a 0-for-5 mark from three in recent losses to Princeton and Yale, Martz scored 33 points and shot 9-for-15 in this week’s wins against Hartford and Harvard.
Bez Mbeng (Yale)
Mbeng was one of five Yale players reaching double digits, totaling 11 points on a four for eight performance from the field. Just as important for the Elis, winners of three straight, the 6-foot-4 sophomore point guard added a game-high eight assists and committed zero turnovers. This tied his career best in assists and was the first time this season that he didn’t turn the ball over against a Division I opponent. During conference action, the Potomac, Md. native is third in assists (23), assists per game (3.3) and fourth in assists/turnover (1.5).
John Poulakidas (Yale)
The 6’5″ sophomore wing from Naperville, Ill. scored a game-high 19 points for the Bulldogs in their big win against the league-leaders from Old Nassau. This was the 11th time this season he scored in double-digits and the most since a career-high 22 at Colorado in late November. Poulakidas’ 5-for-6 effort from the beyond the arc led the Elis on a day where they hit 14 of 21 shots from deep. For the season, the team’s leading outside shooter sits sixth in the conference in made three-pointers (40), sixth in made triples per game (two), and ninth in shooting from deep (38.1%).
Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa (Columbia)
De La Rosa scored 19 points and pulled down five rebounds for the Lions, which couldn’t hold onto its one-point lead at the five-minute mark against Dartmouth. The 6-foot-2 shooting guard from the Dominican Republic and Spring Creek Academy in Texas made eight of 11 shots from the field, including a perfect 6-for-6 effort from inside the arc. This was his fifth straight game in double figures and 16th time on the season.
Paxson Wojcik (Brown)
The 6-foot-5 guard from Charleston, S.C. had a career day in the Bears loss at Cornell, scoring 22 points to go along with nine rebounds and four assists. Wojcik, in his second year with Brown after coming over from Loyola Chicago, totaled seven points as his team took a 35-33 lead into the locker room. As the Big Red took command in the second half, Wojcik kept things close for Bruno by pouring in 15 points. With half the Ivy slate complete, the senior is third in assists (23), assists per game (3.3) and made three-pointers (15), as well as fourth in three-point shooting (45.5%), seventh in scoring (15.1), and 10th in field goal shooting (51.6%).