Princeton men’s basketball survives after another second-half collapse

Despite another stupefying second-half collapse, the Princeton men’s basketball team somehow hung on to defeat the Harvard Crimson at Lavietes Pavilion Saturday, 58-56.  With the win, the Tigers retained a share of first place in the conference standings and guaranteed themselves an opportunity to earn at least a share of the Ivy League title with a win on senior night at Jadwin Gym next Saturday against the Penn Quakers in the regular season finale for both teams.

The Tigers gutted out this hugely important road win despite a harrowing stretch of offensive futility that echoed Princeton’s epic second-half collapse against Yale last weekend.  

Senior guard Ryan Langborg led the Tigers with 18 points and six rebounds while Evan Nelson led Harvard in scoring with 19 points in a losing cause. Chris Ledlum, playing his final game at Lavietes, was held to 14 points (five below his average), but muscled his way to a game-high 11 rebounds for the Crimson, who were eliminated from Ivy Madness on Senior Night by Princeton for the second year in a row.

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Three Quakeaways from Penn men taking care of business in win over Dartmouth

Senior Lucas Monroe turned in a 13-point, 10-rebound performance to lift Penn past Dartmouth at the Palestra Saturday (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

PHILADELPHIA — Penn is one win away from at least a share of the Ivy League regular season championship after a businesslike 89-79 win over Dartmouth at the Palestra on Senior Day.

The Quakers never trailed after the 16-minute mark of the first half, but there were some dicey moments along the way. At one point, a 9-0 Big Green run midway through the second half cut the visiting team’s deficit to 64-61 and forced Penn coach Steve Donahue into a timeout with 9:19 to play.

Coming out of the break, junior forward Max Martz proved to be Penn’s stopper.

Martz got a mismatch in the post against Dartmouth’s Ryan Cornish, backed down the guard and drained a righty hook to extend the Red and Blue’s lead back to five. He then went on to add two three-pointers from the corner and a second jumper over the next four-plus minutes to hold Dartmouth at bay. Martz finished the afternoon with 18 points and a team-high KenPom offensive rating of 163 points per 100 possessions.

Penn will need a performance like that from Martz next Saturday at Princeton in arguably the team’s biggest regular-season game in five years.

During the long wait, Quakers fans will have plenty to ruminate on, such as how …

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To win another Ivy League title, Princeton men’s basketball must re-establish its identity

The Princeton men’s basketball team enters the final three weekends of the Ivy League regular season in an enviable position.  At 7-3 in conference play, the Tigers are tied for first place in the conference standings with Yale and host three of their final four regular season games at home, including two season-defining matchups against Brown and Yale this weekend.  

Yet there are some reasons for concern as Princeton prepares to make a final push to defend its league title.  The Tigers have struggled recently with consistency, losing three of their last seven games, including losses at Brown, Yale and Dartmouth.  

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Ivy women’s week seven roundup: Ancient Eight’s Top Ten

Following Saturday afternoon’s action, the upper division pulled away from the bottom half, while the Brown rebuild took a positive step forward.

Columbia bounced back from a disappointing result against Princeton by taking it out on Yale in front of 1,485 fans at Levien Gymnasium.  The Lions jumped out to a 32-17 halftime lead on the strength of a 14-0 second quarter run.  The Light Blue made it a 20-point game after three and widen it to a game-high 28 points with just under four minutes to go in the contest.  Defensively, they limited the Bulldogs to 32% shooting and only 49 points, the first time they held an Ivy opponent under 50 this season.

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Ivy men’s week seven roundup: Ancient Eight’s top 10

Week seven for the Ancient Eight saw Yale avenge its shocking opening day loss at Columbia and move into a tie at the top of the conference leaderboard.  After a close half that saw the Bulldogs holding onto a slim 31-26 lead, the Bulldogs outscored the last-place Lions 58-32 for the dominant 31-point win.  Yale, winners of six straight, had 13 different players in the scoring column and shot 65% from the field. 

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Thoughts on Dartmouth men’s 83-76 win over Princeton

Dame Adelekun’s highly efficient 25 points on 10-for-14 field-goal shooting helped lift Dartmouth past Princeton at Leede Arena Saturday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Dartmouth’s been a resilient team throughout this season, bouncing back from a 13-point second-half deficit to push past Penn last month and overcoming a four-point overtime deficit almost midway through the extra period to top UTSA in November. So Dartmouth blowing a 76-71 lead with 70 seconds left in regulation to drop its first meeting with Princeton at Jadwin Gym in an 83-80 overtime decision last month was never going to be the final word on the Big Green’s season.

In its rematch with Princeton at Leede Arena Saturday, it was Dartmouth that delivered a second-half comeback, climbing out of a seven-point hole early in the second stanza to notch an 83-76 win. Dartmouth’s now tied with a quickly cooling Cornell at fifth place in the Ivy standings,

Some thoughts on how Dartmouth got there and where they could be headed:

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Princeton women pull even in season series and at top of Ivy standings with Columbia in 74-56 clinic

Princeton senior guard Julia Cunningham reached the 1,000-point career scoring mark in her team’s 74-56 victory at Columbia Saturday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Ivy Hoops Online reporter George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps an emphatic win for Princeton women’s basketball at Columbia to even up the season series and tie Columbia atop the Ivy League standings – along with Harvard – at 7-2:

Princeton men’s second-half shooting propels Tigers past Cornell

Reigning Ivy Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan led Princeton to a comeback win over Cornell Friday at Jadwin Gym. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Editor’s note: IHO reporter George “Toothless Tiger” Clark delivers an in-depth audio dispatch on the Princeton men’s and women’s clashes with Cornell while IHO reporter Nathan Solomon gives us the written rundown of the pivotal men’s game in the Ivy title race: 

In the second consecutive game without sophomore guard Nazir Williams, the Cornell men capitalized on a hot start to lead by 10 at the half.

But Princeton flipped the switch in the second half, scoring 54 points and connecting on 66% of its shots to fend off the Big Red, 89-82, Friday at Jadwin Gymnasium.

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Is Princeton men’s basketball poised to repeat as Ivy League champions?

Having reigning Ivy Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan should help Princeton down the stretch of the Ivy League title race. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

At the midpoint of the Ivy League season, the Princeton men’s basketball team sits in a familiar position:  tied for first place in a crowded field of evenly matched teams. At 5-2 in conference play, the Tigers are tied atop the league standings with their new rival, the Cornell Big Red. Lurking not far behind is an upsurging Dartmouth team and resurging Yale squad each at 4-3, while three other teams – Brown, Harvard and Penn – remain within striking distance with a record of 3-4.  Only one team in the Ancient Eight – Columbia – appears to be out of the running with a conference record of 1-6.  

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Yale men pull away with hot hands in 87-65 win over Princeton

Junior forward Matt Knowling delivered 12 points on 6-for-10 field-goal shooting, nine rebounds and two steals in Yale’s 87-65 win over Princeton at the John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Editor’s note: Ivy Hoops Online writers George “Toothless Tiger” Clark and Richard Kent deliver audio and written recaps, respectively, of Yale’s stunning second-half offensive outburst that secured a win over Princeton:   

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