Ivy League Basketball Roundup: 12/22/2014
Below is the Ivy League Basketball Roundup for Monday, December 22, 2014. Five teams – Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, Columbia, and Penn were in action with only Princeton playing at home.
Brown Defeats Central Connecticut State On The Road
Brown had an excellent first half on both ends of the court to propel them to a 67-55 win over Central Connecticut State. Steven Spieth had 19 points and 10 rebounds while Tavon Blackmon finished with 16 points.
It took the Bears a while to put their stamp on the first half, as the game was 14-12 in favor of Brown midway through the first half. The Bears got going in the final 10 minutes with 8 points from Cedric Kuakumensah to close the half on a 22-7 run to lead 36-21 at the break.
Kuakumensah led Brown with 13 points in the first half on 6 of 8 shooting. The Bears shot 50% from the field and hit 4 of 10 three pointers (40%). They also committed 7 turnovers in the first half. Matt Mobley scored 11 points for the Blue Devils, but it was tough going for them as a team. They shot 29.6% from the field, made 2 of 5 three pointers (40%), and committed 9 turnovers.
CCSU came out in the second half with a 13-6 run to cut the deficit to 8 points at 42-34. The lead was cut to as low as 6 points at 52-46, but Brown went on a 13-2 run to effectively put the game away. CCSU did out-score Brown 34-31 in the second half.
Steven Spieth led Brown in the second half with 13 points and 7 rebounds. The Bears shot 41.7% from the field and hit 5 of 10 three pointers (50%). They out-rebounded CCSU 23-15, but committed 14 turnovers in the final 20 minutes. Matt Mobley had 11 points for CCSU while Faronte Drakeford scored 10 points. They shot 34.3% from the field while hitting only 2 of 8 three pointers (25%). They had only 1 turnover in the second half.
For the entire game, Steven Spieth had 19 points on 7 of 14 shooting (3 of 5 from deep) and collected 10 rebounds. Tavon Blackmon scored 16 points on 4 of 6 shooting and 7 of 8 from the free throw line. Cedric Kuakumensah finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds with Rafael Maia scoring 6 points and grabbing 10 boards. The Bears went 23 of 50 from the field (46%) and hit 9 of 20 three pointers (45%). They went 12 of 16 from the free throw line (75%), out-rebounded CCSU 43-31, blocked 7 shots, and committed 21 turnovers.
Matt Mobley finished with 22 points on 7 of 19 shooting for Central Connecticut State. Faronte Drakeford was the second leading scorer on the team with 13 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. The Blue Devils shot 20 of 62 from the field (32.3%) and hit 4 of 13 three pointers (30.8%). They went 11 of 15 from the free throw line (73.3%), had 9 steals, blocked 7 shots, and committed only 10 turnovers.
Brown (6-6) has a break of 6 days before facing Sacred Heart (6-4) at home on December 28. Central Connecticut State (2-9) face in-state Connecticut (5-4) December 28 on the road.
Dartmouth Held To 16 First Half Points In 20 Point Loss
Stellar shooting by Penn State and a poor shooting performance in the first half by Dartmouth allowed the Nittany Lions to win 69-49. Penn State led by 25 points at the break.
The game was tied at 7 with 15:24 remaining in the first half before a 20-4 run by Penn State gave them a 27-11 lead. It did not get any better for Dartmouth as they managed to only score 5 points in the final 6:18 of the first half. Penn State led 41-16 at the break.
Connor Boehm led the Big Green with 6 points in the first half. The team shot 29.2% from the field and missed all 9 three point attempts. They were out-rebounded 17-7 and committed 8 turnovers. D.J. Newbill led Penn State with 11 points in the first half on 5 of 7 shooting. The Nittany Lions shot 57.7% in the first half and hit 4 of 10 three pointers (40%). They committed 6 turnovers in first half.
The second half was better for Dartmouth, but the 25 point deficit was far too much to overcome as was Penn State’s quality. The Big Green were unable to chip into the lead with the team still trailing by 20 points or more for nearly all of the second half. The Big Green out-scored Penn State 33-28 in the final 20 minutes.
Alex Mitola led Dartmouth in the second half with 9 points on 3 of 5 shooting. They shot 40% from the field and hit only 2 of 11 three pointers (18.2%). They out-rebounded Penn State 20-17 and committed only 2 turnovers. Brandon Taylor had 8 points in the second half to lead Penn State. The team shot 34.8% and hit 3 of 9 three pointers (33.3%). They committed only 5 turnovers.
For the game Alex Mitola had 13 points to lead Dartmouth. Gabas Maldunas finished with 9 points and 4 rebounds. The Big Green shot 19 of 54 from the field (35.2%) and hit only 2 of 20 three pointers (10%). They hit 9 of 16 free throws (56.2%), had 6 steals, and committed 11 turnovers.
D.J. Newbill led Penn State with 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting. Geno Thorpe scored 12 points, John Johnson scored 10 points, and Brandon Taylor finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds. The Nittany Lions finished hitting 23 of 49 shots from the field (46.9%) and made 7 of 19 from beyond the arc (36.8%). They made 16 of 24 free throws (66.7%), out-rebounded Dartmouth 38-30, had 15 assists, and committed only 11 turnovers.
Dartmouth (5-6) has a bit of break with their next game at Bryant (3-5) on December 31. Penn State (12-1) has won 10 games in a row and their next game is a tough one. They travel to Madison, Wisconsin to face the Badgers (11-1) on New Year’s Eve.
Princeton Pulls Away In Second Half To Beat Liberty
A close game at the halftime interval gave way to an 18 point win for Princeton. The Tigers outscored Liberty by 14 points in the second half to win 65-47 on Monday night.
The game was even until a 9-2 run, courtesy of 3 three pointers, put the Tigers up 17-9. Liberty chipped away at the deficit and eventually tied the game at 23 with four and a half minutes to play. Princeton closed on an 8-4 run to lead 31-27 at the break.
David Andoh led Liberty in the first half with 8 points on 4 of 8 shooting. The Flames shot 47.6% in the first half and missed their only three point attempt. They out-rebounded Princeton 15-11 while committing 8 turnovers. Steven Cook, Amir Bell, and Spencer Weisz led Princeton with 6 points each. The Tigers shot 44% from the field while hitting 7 of 20 three pointers (35%). They had 8 assists and committed 4 turnovers in the first half.
For the fist 10 minutes of the second half, Princeton was unable to shake Liberty. The Flames kept the game between four and nine points. The final 8:34 of the second half was Princeton’s, as they went on a 16-7 run to win the game by 18 points.
James Johnson was the top scorer for Liberty in the second half with 6 points. The Flames shot 26.3% from the field and hit only 1 of 5 three pointers (20%). They also committed 12 turnovers in the second half. Steven Cook finished with 10 points on 2 of 4 shooting and 6 of 6 from the free throw line. The Tigers shot 39.1% and hit only 3 of 12 three pointers (25%). The Tigers were better on the glass with a 16-9 advantage and committed 9 turnovers.
Theo Johnson and David Andoh were joint-top scorers for Liberty with 10 points. The Flames went 15 of 40 from the field (37.5%) and hit 1 of 6 three pointers (16.7%). They made 16 of 21 free throws (76.2%), had 6 steals, and committed 21 turnovers. The Flames did out-rebounded Princeton 30-27.
The Tigers were led by Steven Cook’s 16 points on 4 of 7 shooting and 6 of 6 from the free throw line. Spencer Weisz finished with 13 points while Hans Brase scored 7 points and collected 9 rebounds. Princeton went 20 of 48 from the field (41.7%) and hit 10 of 32 three pointers (31.2%). They went 15 of 19 from the charity stripe (78.9%), had 12 assists, 10 steals, blocked 7 shots, and committed 14 turnovers.
Liberty (5-7) takes on Cincinnati Christian Sunday afternoon at home. Princeton (5-8) has won back-to-back games and faces Wake Forest (6-6) on New Year’s Eve on the road.
UConn’s Late Surge Sends Columbia To 15 Point Defeat
Columbia played a solid game against Connecticut, but a late run by the Huskies made the score line look better than it indicated. 20 point efforts from Ryan Boatright and Rodney Purvis led UConn to the 80-65 victory.
Connecticut sprinted out to a 9-0 lead before the Lions clawed their way back into the game with a 17-6 run to lead 17-15. They held that slim advantage until late in the half when Boatright drained a three pointer to give UConn the lead at 34-31. Jeff Coby responded with a three for Columbia, but Boatright scored the final 8 points for the Huskies to give them a 39-36 lead at the break.
Jeff Coby and Maodo Lo both had 9 points for Columbia while Steve Frankoski scored 8 points. The Lions shot 57.1% from the field and hit 4 of 11 three pointers (36.4%). They had 8 assists and committed 5 turnovers. Ryan Boatright scored 14 points while Rodney Purvis had 11 points. The Huskies shot 57.1% as well and also hit 4 three pointers out of 8 (50%). Neither team had the advantage on the glass (1o rebounds apiece) while UConn committed 4 turnovers.
The second half began with both teams trading buckets and the lead. The Huskies claimed the lead for good at 47-46 with 16:18 left to play. Even with 6:26 remaining it was 58-55 in favor of UConn, but the Huskies ended the game on a 22-10 with Columbia going cold from the field. The Huskies outscored Columbia 41-29 in the second half.
Maodo Lo had 15 second half points for Columbia. They shot 33.3% in the second half and hit only 4 of 14 three pointers (28.6%). They committed only 4 turnovers in the final 20 minutes. The Huskies were led by Purvis’ 10 points. Amida Brimah scored 8 points as well. The Huskies shot 57.1% and made 5 of 8 three pointers (62.5%). The Huskies made all 12 of their free throws, had 10 assists, and committed only 6 turnovers.
Maodo Lo led Columbia with 24 points for the game on 10 of 15 shooting and 4 of 9 from deep. Luke Petrasek scored 10 points off the bench. They went 26 of 58 from the field (44.8%) and made 8 of 25 three pointers (32%). They attempted only 7 free throws, making 5 of those (71.4%). They had 13 assists, 6 steals, and committed 10 turnovers.
Rodney Purvis finished with 21 points on 7 of 8 shooting and 4 of 5 from beyond the arc. Ryan Boatright had an excellent all-around game with 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists. The Huskies shot 28 of 49 from the field (57.1%) and made 9 of 16 three pointers (56.2%). They went 15 of 17 from the free throw line (88.2%), out-rebounded Columbia slightly (28-26), had 18 assists, and committed 10 turnovers.
Columbia (6-4) has lost two of their last 3 games. They face Colgate (3-9) on Sunday afternoon at home. Connecticut (5-4) faces in-state foe Central Connecticut State (2-9) on Sunday afternoon as well.
Penn Crushed On The Road By Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt had three players score at least 15 points on their way to a 29 point victory. The Commodores beat Penn 79-50.
The final score does not tell the tale of how the first half went. The Quakers led 15-10 following Tony Hicks‘ three pointer. Vanderbilt ripped off a 15-5 run to reclaim the lead at 25-20. The Quakers closed within four at 32-28, but an 8-1 run to end the half made it 40-29 at the break.
Tony Hicks led Penn with 14 first half points (48.2% of the Quakers’ total points in the first half). Penn shot 39.3% from the field and hit 4 of 10 three pointers. They had 5 steals, but committed 7 turnovers. Vandy was led by 13 points from Damian Jones and 11 points from James Siakam. The Commodores shot 56.5% from the field and hit 2 of 6 three pointers (33.3%). They made 12 of 15 free throws (80%), out-rebounded Penn 21-9, had 9 assists, and committed 10 turnovers.
The second half began with the game getting out of hand quickly. Vanderbilt went on a 13-3 run to build their lead to 21 points at 53-32. From that point it was just a matter of how much. Vandy led by as much as 33 before winning 79-50. They out-scored Penn 39-21 in the second half.
Darien Nelson-Henry had 6 second half points to lead Penn. The Quakers shot 29.6% from the field in the second half while making only 1 of 9 three pointers (11.1%). They committed 10 turnovers in the second half as well. Vandy was led by 10 points from Wade Baldwin IV. They shot 57.7% and hit 3 of 6 three pointers (50%). They had 7 steals while committing 6 turnovers.
For the game, Penn was led by Tony Hicks’ 16 points on 6 of 13 shooting. Matt Howard scored 11 points while Darien Nelson-Henry finished with 9 points. The Quakers went 19 of 55 from the field (34.5%) and hit 5 of 19 three pointers (26.3%). They made 7 of 13 free throws (53.8%), had 7 steals, and committed 17 turnovers.
Vanderbilt got 17 points and 8 rebounds from James Siakim on 7 of 8 shooting. Wade Baldwin IV scored 16 points and Damian Jones finished with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Shelton Mitchell scored 5 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished out 7 assists. The Commodores went 28 of 49 from the field (57.1%) and made 5 of 12 three pointers (41.7%). They hit 18 of 25 free throws (72%), out-rebounded Penn 39-24, had 17 assists, had 9 steals, and committed 16 turnovers.
Penn (3-6) saw their three game win streak broken with the loss and face La Salle (6-5) on December 30. Vanderbilt (8-3) has won three of four and faces St. Louis (8-4) on New Year’s Eve.