After a frustrating loss to Maine eight days earlier, Harvard lost a 10-point second-half lead and found itself facing a second straight home upset when Delaware went up 57-54 with 5:40 left in regulation Monday.
Cornell women’s basketball stumbles at Stanford
Sunday brought a 32-point loss at Stanford to Cornell women’s basketball, which hung around for 21 minutes before a 9-0 Cardinal run put the game well out of reach in an 82-50 result.
Along the way, Cornell earned some sporting praise en route to its fifth consecutive loss heading into Ivy League play.
Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s loss at George Mason
For a second consecutive weekend, an undermanned Penn team — again without leading scorer Ethan Roberts — pushed a double-digit Vegas favorite on the road to the absolute limit before submitting.
This time, they’ll have fewer regrets.
The Quakers (6-6) built six-point leads in the second half twice against George Mason (12-1), a contender to win the Atlantic 10 conference. But a 10-0 Patriots run midway through the second half and bad luck on the defensive glass at the worst possible time sent Penn to an 83-79 defeat.
After TJ Power hit an open corner three to trim the George Mason lead to two points with 41 seconds to play, the Quakers got the critical stop they needed to get the ball back with a chance to win the game after Lucas Lueth rejected a wild attempt by the Patriots’ Jahari Long. However, the rebound popped to George Mason, which converted a layup amid a scramble for the ball.
Penn scrapped and clawed in this one against the Patriots, who were favored by 15.5 points heading into Sunday. Unlike last Saturday’s collapse against Rutgers, Penn didn’t give this one away. George Mason went out and took it.
What did Penn fans learn from an encouraging effort?
Cornell men’s basketball appears back on track after scorching second half in Albany win
The story of this Cornell men’s basketball season begins, as it has each of the past several seasons, at the three-point line. The Big Red lead the nation averaging 14.2 three-point field goals made as of Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Cornell kicked off the month of December with a three-game losing skid in which it conceded 90+ points each game. Only 15 Division I men’s basketball teams are currently allowing more points per outing than the Red. Entering Sunday’s matchup at Albany, the defense had been struggling especially in the second half.
Cornell got the season back on track with an 83-75 victory against the Great Danes, overcoming a mediocre start to do so.
Harvard men’s basketball falls to St. John’s, 85-59
Harvard men’s basketball traveled south to Queens to visit St. John’s on Wednesday night and went back north a few hours later with an 85-59 defeat to the Red Storm.
With one game left in the nonconference schedule, Tommy Amaker’s squad fell to 6-7 on the season, while Rick Pitino’s group ended its out-of-conference slate and improved to 8-4 (1-0 Big East).
Princeton men’s basketball topped again by Temple
Ivy Hoops Online correspondent George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps a 65-61 loss for Princeton men’s basketball (3-11) at Temple (8-5) Monday night:
Harvard women’s basketball loses buzzer-beater to Maine
In a game that featured 30 lead changes, 15 for each team, it was Maine that grabbed the final bucket at the buzzer to beat Harvard 59-57 at Lavietes Pavilion on Sunday afternoon.
The loss ended a three-game winning streak for the Crimson and evened its season record to 6-6, while the Black Bears earned its second straight victory and improved to 5-8 on the year.
Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 70-69 loss at Rutgers
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Penn’s first game against Rutgers in 50 years should have been a statement win.
It wound up becoming a collapse right up there with the worst losses of the Steve Donahue era.
Plagued by a toxic combination of fouls, turnovers, mental mistakes and poor free throw shooting, the Quakers frittered away the 66-59 lead they held with 2:24 to play against the Scarlet Knights at Jersey Mike’s Arena Saturday night.
The coup de grâce in a 70-69 loss came when junior forward TJ Power missed two free throws with eight seconds left that would have effectively iced the game. After the second miss, Rutgers (6-6) guard Tariq Francis capped off a career-high 34-point evening by draining a pull-up game-winning three-pointer with 0.9 seconds to play over a good contest from freshman guard Jay Jones.
For Penn (6-5), the only saving grace about the loss is that it occurred in nonconference play and means nothing for the team’s Ivy and postseason ambitions. It’s better for this young team to learn a harsh lesson like this now when it can still be used as a learning experience.
So, about that learning experience. What did fans learn on Saturday night?
A Christmas season miracle lifts Princeton women’s basketball to an overtime win at George Mason
Do you believe in miracles? How about two of them?
Trailing 63-56 late in the fourth quarter, the Princeton women’s basketball team scored seven points in 15 seconds to force George Mason into overtime.
Then, like Lazarus, the Tigers rallied from the grave in the extra stanza to pull out yet another road win, 71-69, on Saturday afternoon at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va. It was the first ever meeting between the two programs.
The triumph, the ninth in a row for the No. 25 Tigers, may be the most memorable and improbable comeback in the storied history of Princeton women’s basketball.
Dartmouth women’s basketball holds on to defeat Iona
Following the horrific shooting that took place at Brown University on Saturday afternoon, the Ivy League basketball show went on in New Rochelle, N.Y. a few hours later with the Dartmouth women taking on Iona.
The Gaels cut an 11-point deficit to four with 75 seconds left in regulation, but junior guard Nina Minicozzi slammed the door shut on the Iona comeback by drawing two consecutive offensive fouls around the basket, grabbing a big defensive rebound and sinking two free throws.
When the buzzer sounded on the 65-57 victory, the Big Green stretched its winning streak to four and improved to 7-2 on the season, the program’s best start since 1995. On the other side, Iona’s five-game victory streak ended, and the team finished its nonconference schedule at 7-3.
“We have an amazing group of young women, and they’ve bought in. They really believe in each other. They believe in the staff,” Dartmouth coach Linda Cimino said to the ESPN+ reporter immediately after the contest. “It’s all coming to fruition right now, and I’m really proud of them.”