This weekend, Brown, the University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton all remained unbeaten in Ivy League play, though the Quakers were almost upset by two of the conference’s weakest opponents, Cornell and Columbia. Princeton showed no such weakness in resounding wins over those same teams. Brown’s Earl Hunt, the current favorite for Player of the Year, led his team in scoring for the 11th and 12th times this season.
Princeton 68, Columbia 51
Princeton’s Spencer Gloger, who led all scorers with 19 points, keyed a 17-1 first half run by the Tigers that effectively ended the competition Friday.
Gloger and teammate Ed Persia combined for 12 points during the spurt that put Princeton ahead 24-8 with just under 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
Columbia (2-17, 0-6 Ivy) never got closer than 13. Marco McCrotty led the Lions with 15 points.
Princeton (10-7, 4-0) has won six straight games, heading into its Tuesday matchup at Penn.
Brown 91, Harvard 86
Harvard (10-9, 2-4) held a six-point advantage Friday with nine minutes remaining on the clock, but 3-pointers by Brown’s Patrick Powers and Mike Martin kicked off a 15-3 Bear run that reversed the score deficit.
The Cantabs had a chance to tie the score at 89, but Patrick Harvey, who led the team with 21 points, missed a 3-point attempt.
Crimson teammate Sam Winter had 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Jason Forte handed out 10 assists for Brown (11-9, 6-0), while Earl Hunt scored 24 for the Bears.
Pennsylvania 70, Cornell 67
Despite a good shooting performance Friday, the Quakers almost succumbed to a late surge by Cornell (7-12, 2-4); the Big Red cut the deficit to one with 11 seconds remaining. But the Big Red chose the wrong man to foul because Penn’s Jeff Schiffner, who is shooting 90 percent from behind the line, sunk both.
Cornell’s Ka’Ron Barnes missed a 3-point attempt with three seconds left that would have tied the game.
Ugonna Onyekwe and Andrew Toole led a balanced Penn (12-5, 4-0) offense with 12 points a piece. Schiffner, David Klatsky and Koko Archibong combined for another 31.
Eric Taylor topped the Big Red scoring effort with 17.
Pennyslvania 47, Columbia 40
Despite a relatively close final score Saturday, Penn dominated the game, leading the entire way after opening a 16-7 advantage with close to nine minutes left in the opening half.
The Quakers shot just 14 of 41, but it was enough to top Columbia, who was held to 40 or less points for the fifth time this season. The Lions have now lost 10 straight.
Ugonna Onyekwe led Penn with 16 points and 7 rebounds, while Columbia’s Chris Wiedemann posted a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Penn’s Jeff Schiffner added 10 points.
Brown 61, Dartmouth 53
The Big Green’s David Gardner scored six consecutive points to cut the Brown lead to 43-42 Saturday with 11 and change remaining in the game, but a 10-3 Brown run over the next six and a half minutes put Brown in a position to seal the game. The Bears hit 5 of 6 from the charity stripe in the waning moments to do just that.
Dartmouth (4-15, 0-6) was led by Mike McLaren’s 12 point performance, all 3-pointers. Brown was again led by Earl Hunt, who scored 17.
Princeton 67, Cornell 49
The Tigers led for the final 36 minutes of the game Saturday, despite a late Cornell rush.
Princeton connected on eight of 18 3-pointers and forced 25 Big Red turnovers.
Cornell’s Ka’Ron Barnes led all scorers with 19.
On the winning side, Ed Persia, Ray Robins, Will Venable, and Spencer Gloger scored 16, 14, 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Preview: The coming week should break most of the Ivy League standings’ ties; Yale, currently fourth in the league, will face both Penn and Princeton, and the three unbeaten teams — Brown, Penn and Princeton — all play each other.
Penn hosts Princeton in a traditional Palestra showdown Tuesday.