Ivy League Weekly Roundup: A 3-Team Race Emerges

What Happened Last Week: The top three contenders looked the part: Columbia stayed perfect, thanks to an Alex Rosenberg buzzer-beater. Yale did the same, but not without a scare from Princeton. Cornell got a surprising road sweep, while Harvard crashed and burned. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: A 3-Team Race Emerges” →

Yale 79, Princeton 75: Bulldogs Show Some Flaws, But No Losses

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – So here was the scene at Lee Amphitheather with four minutes left in the highly anticipated Princeton-Yale showdown Saturday.

Brandon Sherrod, who already has a remarkable backstory involving taking a year off to travel the world singing, was 8-8 from field. Impressive enough, right? But it was Sherrod’s third straight perfect game from the field, a streak that has reached 25, one short of the NCAA all-time record. Yale had led throughout (by as much as 16 early in the second half), and Princeton’s answer to make a late comeback?

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St. Francis Brooklyn 60, CCSU 49: Do Terriers Need An Offense?

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – It shouldn’t be terribly surprising that St. Francis Brooklyn is getting by with its defense this season. A quick check of the numbers shows that the Terriers have been in the top three of defensive efficiency in NEC play in each of Glenn Braica’s first five seasons at the helm in Brooklyn Heights, which is also the biggest reason why the Terriers are 54-34 in that span, never missing the NEC Tournament and winning the regular-season crown in 2014-15.

Even without Jalen Cannon and Brent Jones, St. Francis Brooklyn is moving slowly toward the top of the NEC defensive ratings (if it weren’t for two poor games against Wagner, it would be past Mount St. Mary’s and long there already). As I’ve talked about before, Tyreek Jewell is a fantastic defender and held Central Connecticut’s biggest offensive threat, Austin Nehls, without a field goal until the game was decided in a 60-49 smothering win for the Terriers (9-14, 5-5) at Detrick Gym Saturday afternoon.

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Fordham 78, UMass 72 (OT): Another Step Up Ladder For Rams

AMHERST, Mass. – In an instant gratification society, baby steps are not much noticed and even less appreciated, even if they take place on national television.

Beating a UMass team that has had trouble getting out of its own way of late 78-72 in overtime before a small, mostly grumbling crowd at the Mullins Center will not send shockwaves through the land or turn Fordham into instant NCAA Tournament or even Atlantic 10 contenders.

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