Ivy Roundup: Princeton moves up without Cannady; Penn continues to mystify

By Joel Alderman
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Updated: February 24, 2019

Yale (8-1, 18-4 overall) – 77 Dartmouth (2-7, 11 – 14) – 59

First place Yale opened up some breathing room as the Ivy League race went into the home stretch and the Bulldogs (18-4 overall) defeated Dartmouth, 77-59, while about 30 minutes later they learned that Harvard was surprised by Brown.

Yale has a six game winning streak, 14 of their last 15, and is 9-0 undefeated at home where it has won 14 straight going back to last season.

Alex Copeland, a senior, not only led the way with 23 points, but went over the thousand mark in his Yale career. In 25 minutes on the floor, he was a remarkable 11-of-12 from the field, to which he added four assists and an equal number of steals. He began the game needing 18 and had 12 at the half.
Sophomore sub Azar Swain, with ? triples, scored 16, while Miye Oni has ten and 9 off the glass.

The Bulldogs are 8-1 in the Ivy, with Harvard and Princeton tied for second, each at 6-3. If they defeat Harvard on Saturday they will qualify for the four team Ivy League Tournament, to be played this year on its own court.

Ironically Copeland’s performance, featuring his 1000th point, came against Dartmouth, the same college from which his father, who attended the game with other family members, graduated.

Yale led 40-25 at the half and virtually coasted all the day. The Bulldogs shot 60 percent, opposed to 37.7% by the Big Green.

Swain, developing into a three point specialist, was 3-for-5 behind the arc and 6-8 all told.

Brendan Barry scored 17 for Dartmouth. The Big Green, one of the top shooting teams from long range, made only four of 18 against Yale.

Princeton (6-3, 14-8) – 68 Cornell (5-4, 13-12 overall) – 59

Ryan Schwieger, subbing for the missing Devin Cannady, scored a career-high 23 points as Princeton (6-3) defeated Cornell, 68-59, at its Jadwin Gym. The result moved Princeton (14-8, 6-3) into a tie for second place with Harvard and ensures the Tigers would hold the tiebreaker over Cornell (13-12, 5-4) by sweeping their series with the Big Red.

Cornell’s Matt Morgan, the Ivy’s leading scorer, was limited to 12 points.

The equally important story for Princeton and the Ivy League is that Cannady was not even on the bench, after playing in four games following his three-game suspension. He is due to be present on Feb. 25th in Princeton Municipal Court on a reduced charge of simple assault after allegedly striking a university police officer in an off campus Wawa convenience store. (See our previous articles on RoundballDaily.com).

His absence in this game was unexplained, except that coach Mitch Henderson said that the Tiger’s star was “attending to a personal matter, We support him fully in that, and that’s all I can say at this point.” He also said it is “unlikely” he would play on Saturday against Columbia. The coach made no reference to whether being out of action this weekend is related to Cannady’s pending court appearance.

Brown (4-5, 15-9 overall) – 88 Harvard (6-3, 13-9 overall) – 79

Before a capacity crowd of nearly 3,000 at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, Brown (4-5) pulled off one of its biggest all time wins and handed the title aspirations of Harvard a damaging blow. After 19 losses since 2009, Brown registered a victory over Harvard, 88-79. As a result, the Crimson fell father behind Yale and into a second place tie with on coming Princeton, both with 6-3 records.

One of the Brown stars ironically bears the same sir name as the Massachusetts city Harvard calls home. He is Desmond Cambridge,who poured in 30 points. And he credited a chiropractor for helping loosen his back and make his shots. The Nashville sophomore was 11-for-21 including five 3-pointers.

Although Brown had a 10-point lead after the first half, the Crimson trailed by just one possession at 80-77 with 1:47 left. Then Cambridge and Harvard’s Noah Kirkwood (28 points) matched field goals, before Cambridge fed Matt DeWolf for a four point lead, safe enough to hold on.

Winning coach Mike Martin said “It’s a big win for our program. We played outstanding defense in the first half and in the second half we won the game with our offense.” That’s when Brown shot 59 percent.

Columbia (1-8, 6-17 overall) – 79 Pennsylvania (4-5, 16-9 overall) – 77 (OT)

Biggest upset of the night took place at Penn’s Palestra where last place Columbia (7-16, 2-7) took down Pennsylania (15-10, 3-6) 79-77 in another overtime game, the Lions’ fourth overall this season and its first win.

The Lions overcame a five-point deficit in the final 1:03 of OT. With the score tied, Columbia freshman Maka Ellis, from Las Vegas, scored on an open lay up on an inbounds play and 0.4 seconds left. Ellis was 6-for-7 from the field, off the bench. Gabe Stefanini led Columbia with 20.

Columbia stopped its six game Ivy League losing streak, and had lost 17 straight on the road.
Afterwards, Penn coach Steve Donahue, said what should be obvious to Ivy fans. “This league is so balanced, you really have to play well to knock someone out.”

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