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THE WINNING BASKET#ThisIsYale pic.twitter.com/o9eLNHo7qR
— Yale Men’s Basketball (@YaleMBasketball) March 17, 2024
NEW YORK – A jubilant and relieved Brown coach Mike Martin said time went backward over the last eight minutes as his team’s 18-point lead evaporated to three with under a minute left in regulation in Saturday’s Ivy League Tournament semifinal,
But the No. 4 Bears held on to defeat No. 1 Princeton, 90-81, in front of a packed house at Levien Gymnasium and a national ESPNU audience.
The team’s semifinal victory, the first-ever for a No. 4 seed in either the men’s or women’s division through the six-year history of the Ivy League Tournament, sends the Bears to Sunday afternoon’s finale and a chance for the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1986.
Despite a regular season championship, Saturday’s furious comeback and the national memory of last year’s Sweet 16 run, the Tigers’ chances at an at-large bid to the Big Dance appear to be slim.
BROWN BUILT FOR THIS
WE ARE HEADED TO THE IVY MADNESS FINALS
#EverTrue pic.twitter.com/E6tgGDQt29
— Brown Men’s Basketball (@BrownU_MBB) March 16, 2024
Ivy Hoops Online contributor George Clark recaps a 90-81 upset win for No. 4 Brown (13-17, 9-6 Ivy) over No 1 Princeton (24-4, 12-3) in their Ivy League Tournament semifinal matchup that puts the Bears a win away from their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1986.
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NEW YORK – The second day of the Ivy League Tournament brought the four men’s teams to Levien Gymnasium on the campus of Columbia University.
Below are highlights of the press conferences and links to the videos:
AARON COOLEY for the WINNNNNNNNN#EverTrue x @aaronxcooley pic.twitter.com/LiMs6M8ObT
— Brown Men’s Basketball (@BrownU_MBB) March 9, 2024
Brown men’s basketball led Yale once at John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday.
That lead, 84-81, was the final score courtesy of a last-second shot for the ages by Bears junior guard/forward Aaron Cooley, cementing a remarkable comeback win for the Bears over the Bulldogs in both teams’ regular season finales as they prepare for the Ivy League Tournament.
Three times in the Ivy Tournament era, Mike Martin’s Brown teams have tied for fourth place only to lose out on a postseason bid due to being on the wrong side of the league’s tiebreakers. After a thrilling overtime victory over Harvard on Friday night and a blowout win against Dartmouth on Saturday, the Bears earned its first trip to Ivy Madness.
Brown (11-17, 7-6 Ivy) seemed out of the race for the tournament after starting off league play at 2-6 and hosting only two more games in the Pizzitola Sports Center. Three weeks later, Bruno, winners of five straight, is a serious threat to challenge Princeton, Yale and Cornell for the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
After the weekend, Harvard (14-12, 5-8), which also lost to Yale on Saturday, missed out on its third straight conference tournament and can do no better than fifth place. Dartmouth (5-21, 1-12), which has never made it to Ivy Madness and was defeated by the Bulldogs on Friday, is locked into last place and plans on holding its historic unionization vote on Tuesday before welcoming the Crimson in the Tuesday season finale for both teams.
Columbia men’s basketball battled back several times against Brown on Friday evening, eventually taking its first lead with 4:10 to go. But clutch defense and free throw shooting helped the Bears claim a hard fought 68-66 victory at Levien Gymnasium.
The win for Brown (8-17, 4-6 Ivy), coupled with Harvard’s loss to Princeton, leaves the Bears, Columbia (13-10, 4-6) and Harvard tied for fourth place and the final spot in the Ivy League Tournament with only four games remaining in the regular season.
PHILADELPHIA — Brown struck the coup de grace on any realistic hopes Penn had of a miracle run to Ivy Madness on Saturday night.
The death blow at the Palestra came in the form of a killer 13-2 run after the Quakers had tied the game at 47 with about eight minutes to go in the game. The Bears’ Kino Lilly Jr. capped it off with a dagger three-pointer to make it 60-49 with 3:14 to play. Penn showed a bit of late life, but it wasn’t enough in what wound up being a 71-64 loss to Brown (7-17, 3-6 Ivy).
It is hard to believe that Penn (9-15, 1-8) has collapsed like this after a nonconference campaign that included a signature win over Villanova and plenty of indicators that the team was heading in the right direction.
But this is the bed the Quakers have made for themselves.
What could Penn fans take away from a miserable evening?
Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark breaks down a 72-63 win over for Princeton men’s basketball (18-3, 6-2 Ivy) over Brown (6-17, 2-6) at Jadwin Gym Friday:
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