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The Brown men’s basketball team used a 21-point effort by senior forward Landon Lewis and a career-high 20-point performance from junior guard Luke Paragon to beat Princeton, 80-71, at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Friday night.
With their Ivy Madness chances hanging by a thread, the Bears (9-15, 3-8 Ivy) picked up a second straight win and moved to within a game of the seventh-place Tigers (8-18, 4-7), which lost their fourth in a row.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Cornell men’s basketball team can’t really explain what happened in a 39-point loss at Dartmouth exactly one month ago today.
It did know that, presented with a second opportunity, it would not happen again.
Second-seeded Cornell not only gained revenge but booked its place in the Ivy League Tournament final for the first time with an 87-71 win Saturday afternoon at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
“It really started the night before when we lost to Harvard and didn’t play well,” Cornell senior Nazir Williams said. “There were some things that happened that weekend that weren’t good and it showed on the court. We needed to reset and get back to the basketball we knew we could play. We obviously knew we were much better than that, and our coaches helped us understand that, we had a good week of practice, and we were back.”
That loss at Dartmouth, in which the Big Red trailed 21-2 and then 44-18 at the half, was a catalyst for Cornell (18-10), which has played some of its best basketball since, especially on the offensive end. Saturday’s win was its fifth straight and the first one in three that it hasn’t scored 100 points.
The field is set for Ivy Madness.
Penn finished with a higher NCAA NET ranking (No. 162) than Brown (No. 184), the Ivy League confirmed Sunday morning, making the Quakers the fourth and final team to clinch an Ivy League Tournament berth with the Bears on the outside looking into the tourney to be held on their home floor at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
The full women’s and men’s slate for the Ivy League Tournaments are below, with automatic bids going to the tourney winners:
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – After Friday night’s tough loss at Yale, Cornell first-year head coach Jon Jaques lamented that if a break or two had gone his team’s way down the stretch, the final result might have been different.
Sure enough, less than 24 hours later, in an even bigger spot for the Big Red at a Brown team they were tied with in the Ivy League standings, there they were in the closing minutes with the game in the balance.
Brown basketball fans got to see two thrillers at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Saturday. Unfortunately for them, the Bears went down to crushing defeats in both contests.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Two weeks ago, Harvard was down double digits to Division III Bowdoin and having trouble getting good looks in the paint.
Saturday afternoon at the Pizzitola Sports Center, the Crimson took it to favored Brown, dominating the interior and seemingly scoring at will – particularly in the second half – on their way to an 80-67 victory that rekindles some hope Harvard might return to Providence in March for its first Ivy League Tournament since 2019.
No one ever accused Yale men’s basketball coach James Jones of playing an easy out-of-conference schedule.
Yale traveled to Kingston, R.I. to take on the 7-0 Rhode Island Rams Monday night.
Rhody won 84-78 to start the season 8-0 for the first time since the 1946-47 season.
Jones called it “a tough loss on the road.”
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The brown banner at the Pizzitola Sports Center sits ominously among a slew of white ones and reads “Men’s Basketball Ivy League Champions.”
Below that sits a lone number: 1986 — with plenty of space for a companion or two.
It almost read 2024, of course. We don’t have to rehash what happened last March in New York on this site, but Brown had earned its first NCAA Tournament in 38 years by upsetting Yale and Princeton. Until it hadn’t.
KYLA JONES CALLED GAME!!! BEARS WIN!!!!
Bears rally and defeat Penn at home 61-59#EverTrue #NEXT pic.twitter.com/tnUT8wXgzX
— Brown Women’s Basketball (@BrownU_WBB) February 17, 2024
In case you had any doubts, it turns out the Brown women’s basketball team is for real. And Kyla Jones is one of the biggest reasons.
Yale men’s basketball owns Brown.
The Bulldogs have now won 10 out of their last 11 games against the Bears under coach James Jones, whose team won another road contest in the series Tuesday night, 80-70. Brown never led.
“Great way to start league play,” Jones said. “Always tough to win on the road, especially with our travel partner. The team is starting to come together. We’re close to playing Bulldog basketball.”