Rob Browne

Penn men cruise over Columbia to take No. 4 seed in Ivy Madness as AJ Brodeur makes history

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Penn senior forward AJ Brodeur set three program records in his final game at the Palestra as the Quakers easily dispatched Columbia, 85-65, on a historic night at the Palestra to earn the No. 4 seed in the Ivy League Tournament.

The Red & Blue (16-11, 8-6 Ivy) nabbed their fourth straight Ivy League Tournament berth, knocking Brown (also 8-6 in Ivy play) on the strength of a Brodeur triple-double: 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Penn split the season series with Brown but held the second tiebreaker, a better record against league top seed Yale.

Brodeur’s triple-double was the first in program history, a feat that followed two more records from the Northborough, Mass. native.

With the game well in hand in the second half, the focus became whether Brodeur would pass Ernie Beck ’53 to become the all-time leading scorer.

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Penn men defeat Cornell, 78-64, control Ivy Madness destiny

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After four months and 26 games, Penn’s chance at making its fourth straight Ivy Madness appearance now comes down to one final contest.

Following a closely matched 24 minutes, the Quakers used a 12-4 run, punctuated by back-to-back threes from Ryan Betley and Jordan Dingle, to create separation from Cornell and cruise to a 78-64 victory on Friday night.

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The Ivy League Tournament’s X-factor: The coronavirus

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Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, six of the eight slots in next week’s Ivy Madness have been set.  One thing that is not as secure are the final plans of the tournaments, due to the increasing public health threat form the novel coronavirus.

As the scope of the disease increases in numbers and locations throughout the United States, governments, corporations, schools, houses of worship and hospitals are among the many groups that have had to figure out how to perform normal actions while providing proper levels of safety and protection.

Add college basketball to that list.

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Report: Brown Band protests coach Sarah Behn, refuses to play at women’s basketball games

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The Brown University Band has refused to play at any more women’s basketball home games for the remainder of the 2019-20 season, according to a statement released by the organization on February 18 on its Facebook page.  According to the letter, the decision was made due to “recent allegations regarding the conduct of Head Coach Sarah Behn.”

The story was first reported by the Brown Daily Herald on February 24.

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Penn men rebound to beat Brown, 73-68, and stay in Ivy Madness hunt

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Another wild night on the roller coaster that is Penn men’s basketball, so what else is new?

One night after losing a 10-point lead lead over the last 98 seconds at Yale, the Red & Blue faced a similar situation up nine at the 2:39 mark in a win-or-go home showdown against Brown.  On this night, the Quakers would hold the line and defeat Brown, 73-68, to get back in the battle for the No. 4 seed in the Ivy League Tournament.

Eddie Scott dunks on Brown during Penn’s 73-68 win at the Pizzitola Sports Center Saturday night. Scott contributed seven points and seven rebounds in 22 minutes. | Photo by Erica Denhoff

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Columbia women win fifth straight, make big push toward Ivy Madness

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Columbia rode its stingy second half defense, Abbey Hsu’s hot fourth quarter shooting and its deep bench to beat Harvard, 62-57, notching its fifth straight win and moving within a game of its first-ever birth in the Ivy Tournament.

Harvard (14-10, 5-6 Ivy) entered Friday night’s contest on a three-game losing streak, including an 89-64 defeat at Columbia (16-8, 7-4) two weeks ago. The Crimson hoped a return to Lavietes Pavilion, where the team was 8-2 on the season, would help turn the tide and return team back to the league’s upper division.

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NCAA issues penalties against Jerome Allen, Penn Athletics and Penn men’s basketball

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Waking up Wednesday morning, who knew that the sweep of the Penn men’s basketball team by Dartmouth and Harvard, as well as Tuesday’s blowout loss to Princeton by the women’s team, would not be the worst news of the week for the Quakers?

At high noon, the NCAA released a statement and report detailing its investigation into former Penn men’s head coach, Jerome Allen, who received bribes from Florida businessman Philip Esformes to place his son, Morris Esformes, onto the recruited athletes list for the entering class of 2015.  Minutes later, Penn Athletics released its own statement on the report.

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Columbia defeats Yale, 74-65, moves into third-place tie as Sienna Durr leads the way

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After Yale cut a 16-point third-quarter deficit to two early in the fourth quarter, Columbia got four three-pointers from four different players to pull away and grab a 74-65 win over the Bulldogs at the John J. Lee Amphitheater on Saturday evening.

The two teams battled evenly through most of the first quarter, when Tori Andrew hit a driving left side layup to put Yale (16-7, 6-4 Ivy) up 13-11. The Lions (15-8, 6-4) responded with a 21-2 run between the last two minutes of the first quarter and the first 3:15 of the second frame to open up a 17-point lead.

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Brown takes down Columbia, 72-66, to move into second place

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Brandon Anderson led four double-digit scorers as Brown pulled away late against Columbia to grab the opening game of its New York state weekend, 72-66, and secure its sixth win in its last seven games.

Bruno (13-9, 6-3 Ivy) jumped out to a 18-10 lead at the 10 minute mark, before the Lions went on a 17-3 run over the next four minutes.  The Bears knotted the game at 30, but Jack Forrest nailed a three from the left elbow and Luke Bolster hit a jumper from the free throw line to give Columbia (6-19, 1-8) a 35-30 lead at the half.

The Lions opened the second half on an 8-2 run to stretch its advantage to a game-high 11.  Tamenang Choh and Zach Hunsaker scored six points each to lead Brown on its own 12-2 run to cut the deficit to one, 45-44.

The Bears reclaimed the lead, 49-47, at the 12-minute mark, after David Mitchell blocked a Mike Smith layup and Bruno broke out on a quick Josh Howard-to-Choh-to Anderson transition layup.  Anderson hit a fadeaway jumper from the line to make it 57-50 with seven minutes left, but the Lions would not go away without a fight.

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Lions crush Crimson, 89-64, to get back into Ivy Madness race

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Columbia used 12-0 and 18-3 first half runs to open up a 26-point halftime lead and cruised to a 89-64 victory over Harvard on Saturday night at Levien Gym.

Harvard took an 11-10 lead right after the first media timeout, but that would prove to be the highlight of the night for the Crimson as Columbia (13-8, 4-4 Ivy) dominated the last 34 minutes.

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