General

Princeton pulls away from Columbia, 79-61

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The Tigers’ 79-61 defeat of the Columbia Lions last night was the hardest-fought “blowout” I have ever seen.

The Lions, arriving at Jadwin after a stunning upset at The Palestra, had their sights set upon the rare road sweep of what used to be known as “The Killer Ps.” The back-and-forth play in the first half indicated the winner of this game was going to earn it.

With about a minute  and a half to go in the first half, a long three from Jerome Desrosiers, the Tigers’ sixth of the opening period, broke a 29-29 tie. Fifteen seconds later, a Desrosiers steal resulted in two free throws by freshman Max Johns, sending the Tigers into intermission leading, 34-29. Princeton coach Mitch Henderson liked what he was seeing on both ends of the floor but knew he was in another typical Ivy League scrap.

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Cornell fades at Penn, misses opportunity to gain ground in Ivy League Tournament hunt

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Cornell led at Penn at halftime, 32-30, at the Palestra Saturday night in a game teeming with Ivy League Tournament implications.

Then the second half happened, and the Big Red faded in a 68-50 loss to Penn that kept the home team in the Ivy tourney hunt, even as Cornell maintains a one-game lead over Penn in the Ivy standings and is tied with Brown at 5-5, with the Big Red currently holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Penn opened the second stanza on a 14-3 run in the first 6:20 and never looked back, doing a much better job limiting touches for Cornell senior guard Matt Morgan.

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Ancient Eight thoughts – Ivy Friday women’s edition

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Eight thoughts on the women’s side:

1. Dartmouth hanging in there 

Dartmouth did something it hadn’t done in a decade last night: defeat Yale at home. And the timing was pivotal as the Big Green notched its second win at the wire in the past four games courtesy of a Paula Lenart putback of a missed Isalys Quinones three-pointer with 1.3 seconds left, giving the Big Green a 56-54 victory to lift them to 4-5 in the Ivy standings – within a game of Yale with five outings to go. It was a gutsy win for the Big Green, whose savvy senior guard Cy Lippold suffered an injury versus Princeton last Saturday. Lenart and Quinones put Dartmouth over the top in a defensive battle, and Annie McKenna’s six steals helped stymie the Bulldogs. If Dartmouth can best Brown tonight and sweep Columbia and Cornell in the final weekend, it has a decent chance of tying Yale in the Ivy standings at 8-6, but the Bulldogs would still own the second tiebreaker: highest seed defeated (Yale has topped both Princeton and Harvard, while Dartmouth has beaten neither.) So the Big Green’s road slate at Penn and Princeton next weekend is a huge, if challenging, opportunity to neutralize or even claim the tiebreaker away from Yale.

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Ancient Eight thoughts – Ivy Friday men’s edition

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Eight thoughts on the men’s side:

1. Columbia was due

Columbia hadn’t won an Ivy road game since its very first under Jim Engles at Cornell on Jan. 14, 2017: 17 such games ago. The Lions were 3-8 in games decided by one possession this season, including a 72-70 loss to Penn at Levien Gym three weeks prior, and were 4-20 in games decided by six points or fewer dating back to the start of last season. So when Maka Ellis’s stunningly easy layup off an inbound pass went in with 0.4 seconds left in overtime to clinch the 79-77 win for the Lions at the Palestra, it was a long overdue coup de grâce for a program that had long been far more competitive under Engles than its win-loss column showed. Kudos to Gabe Stefanini for coming up just two rebounds shy of a triple-double (20 points, 10 assists, eight boards) and Ellis for pitching in five of his 14 points in the final 1:24 in overtime as a rookie on the road to erase Penn’s 77-72 lead at that point.

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Ivy women’s hoops Saturday recap

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Columbia (7-14, 3-5 Ivy) 83 at Brown (9-15, 1-7) 81

Columbia’s Madison Hardy sank two three-pointers in the last minute to push the Lions over Brown, 83-81, at the Pittzitola Sports Center.  The victory was Columbia’s first conference road win and brought the Light Blue into a three-way tie for fifth place.  The Bears, which lost their seventh straight contest, ended the night in sole possession of last place.

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Princeton ekes past Dartmouth, 69-68

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Princeton’s Tigers and Dartmouth’s Big Green staged another Ivy League street fight Saturday night at Jadwin Gymnasium.

Princeton survived, 69-68, despite going cold from deep and another memorable shooting night performance from Dartmouth junior guard and New Jersey native Brendan Barry.

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Defense nonexistent as Yale tops Cornell, 98-92

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In a matchup between two of the league’s best teams, Yale was able to escape Ithaca with a 98-92 win in a game in which nobody really seemed to play much defense. Both teams shot 53 percent from the field and well over 40 percent from three. Yale moved up to 17-4 overall (7-1 Ivy) and Cornell dropped down to 13-11 (5-3) but still remain two games over fifth place in the league, with a Penn loss.

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Ivy women’s hoops Friday recap

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Cornell (8-10, 2-5 Ivy) 65 at Brown (9-14, 1-6) 53

The Big Red limited the league’s most prolific offense to only 17 second half points, as it came away with a 65-53 victory over Brown in Providence.  With the Bears holding a 42-37 lead four minutes into the third quarter, Cornell finished the frame on a 13-2 run to take a six point lead.  A Justine Gaziano layup made the score 57-53 in favor of the Big Red with 3:38 to go, but those would be the last points of the night for the Bears.  Cornell then went on an 8-0 run, including a 6-6 performance from the free throw line, to close the game.

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Ivy women’s hoops Saturday recap

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Princeton (11-9, 3-2 Ivy) 93 vs Brown (9-13, 1-5) 74

The Tigers rebounded from Friday night’s overtime loss to Yale by beating the Bears by 19 on Saturday night.  In front of the team’s alumnae, including the ’14-’15 team that went 30-0 in the regular season, Princeton jumped out to a nine point lead after one quarter and eleven at the half.  The Bears cut the lead to six, two and a half minutes into the third quarter, but that would be as close as the they would get.

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Ivy women’s hoops Friday recap

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Dartmouth (9-9, 2-3 Ivy) 63 at Cornell (7-9, 1-4 Ivy) 56

Cy Lippold scored 21 and Isalys Quinones added 19 to lead the Big Green to a 63-56 victory over Cornell, its first win in Ithaca in nine years.  The two captains shot a combined 10-for-17 from beyond the arc with each making five three-pointers.  As a team, Dartmouth ended up hitting 11 shots from three at a 50 percent rate.

The teams were close throughout with Dartmouth holding a 32-30 lead at the half and a 50-45 advantage after three.  Cornell tied it at 50 on an old-fashioned three by Caitlin Smith with 8:42 left in the fourth quarter. With the Big Green up 53-52 at the seven-minute mark, Cornell shot 1-for-9 over the next 6:30 as Dartmouth went on a 10-2 run to put the game away.

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