Princeton reigns over the Ivies

After the third weekend of conference competition, Princeton (16-4, 4-0 Ivy) is the lone Ivy team that has yet to be defeated.

Princeton 65, Harvard 61
In the big conference showdown between previously undefeated teams, the Tigers outlasted Harvard (15-4, 4-1 Ivy) 65-61. Princeton guards Kareem Maddox and Ian Hummer led the team to victory on the night. The duo, shooting a combined 13 for 21 from the court, carried the team with 31 points. The rest of the team shot just eight for 32 and generally struggled.
Junior forward Keith Wright from Harvard scored 16 points and 11 rebounds, but did not receive enough contributions—particularly from the bench which tallied only 11 points—to win.

Harvard 83, Penn 82 (2ot)
The next day, the Crimson rebounded strongly, escaping from the Palestra with a wild 83-82 double overtime victory over Penn (9-9, 3-1 Ivy). That win kept Harvard in the title hunt and landed Penn its first conference defeat of the year. In the contest, Harvard’s forward tandem of Kyle Casey and Keith Wright tore through Penn’s interior with 18 and 25 points, respectively.
The Crimson defense, though, had no answer for senior forward Jack Eggleston, who scored 23 points, or all-Ivy guard Zack Rosen, who dropped 19 points, 13 assists, and five rebounds. Harvard was able to come out ahead after junior guard Oliver McNally hit the go-ahead jumper with 11 seconds left.

Yale 71, Cornell 70
Last year’s champions Cornell (5-15, 1-5 Ivy) showed some signs of life this weekend. Cornell looked ready to mail in defeat in its Friday contest against Yale. The Bulldogs trailed 65-55 with 1:58 left in the game, and were down 68-61 with 1:10 left, but somehow staged a comeback to win the contest in regulation thanks to Austin Morgan’s clutch trey with 12 seconds on the clock.

Cornell 91, Brown 79
The following night, Cornell dropped 91 points to crush Brown 91-79. Cornell scored 48 points off of three-pointers to earn its first win of the year. Drew Ferry led the Big Red with 20 points, and Jonathan Gray and Chris Wroblewski each tallied 13.

Penn 78, Dartmouth 47
Penn flattened Dartmouth (5-15, 1-5 Ivy) by 31 points in an unexpected twist—Quaker guard Zack Rosen scored just four points the entire game. Usually when that happens, the Quakers are doomed. In this contest though, Rosen received outside help from his backcourt teammate Tyler Bernardini, who scored 21 points, and from forward Eggleston, who recorded a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards.

Princeton 68, Dartmouth 53
Dartmouth was equally hapless the next night versus Princeton. The Big Green kept the score close against the Tigers, even making it to halftime tied at 38. However, Princeton cruised past Dartmouth in the second half with a 21-3 run to take the ballgame.