The Harvard men's basketball team found itself back in the race for the Ivy League championship at the end of last week's play. Led by junior forward Kyle Snowden, who was selected as Ivy League Player of the Week for the second time this season, the Crimson helped itself climb back into the title race by completing its first Ivy road sweep in five years.
The Crimson (14-8 overall, 6-4 Ivy) began weekend play with a 71-44 blow-out victory over Columbia on the Lions' home court. The 27-point win was the largest margin of victory in Harvard's history. Snowden scored 26 points and pulled down 19 rebounds, both career-bests.
The team followed its strong Friday night performance with a spirited win in a much closer game on Saturday. Again, led by Snowden's game high 19 points, Harvard defeated Cornell 65-60. The weekend sweep guaranteed the Crimson its first winning season since the 1984-1985 team went 15-9.
Junior forward Chris Grancio also contributed in the Crimson's defeat of the Big Red. Grancio scored a career high 17 points and shot 75 percent from the floor.
In the league standings, Harvard benefited from two significant upsets. Prior to its loss to Harvard, Cornell upset Dartmouth in an overtime, 61-57. The Big Green (14-8, 7-3) lost a chance to climb in the Ancient Eight standings--Dartmouth was hindered by a flu that affected half the team.
The Pennsylvania Quakers (12-8, 7-2) blew an opportunity to separate themselves from the pack. The traditional Ivy powerhouse lost to Yale when Eli sophomore guard Gabe Hunterton buried a 10-foot jumper with three seconds left in regulation to give Yale a 62-60 win.
League leader Princeton (16-5, 8-1) continued its red-hot play with victories on the road over Brown and Yale to take sole control of first place.
The Tigers defeated the Bears and Elis by crashing the boards and sinking their shots--Princeton out-rebounded both Brown and Yale, and shot 51.3 percent from the field for the weekend.
These events set the scene for this weekend's action. Both Harvard and Dartmouth face a do-or-die situation. Both teams hit the road to face Penn and Princeton and must win to keep their dreams of a championship alive. The task before them will not be easy--the Quakers have won 31 straight league home games heading into this weekend, and the Tigers are riding a nine-game winning streak.
Harvard begins its weekend play against Penn, and barring injury, senior guard Mike Gilmore should become the 17th player in school history to score 1,000 career points. Entering Friday's game, Gilmore has 999 points and hopefully his achievement will inspire the Crimson in its effort to defeat the Quakers.
Though the championship picture is still a blur, this weekend's action should bring the Ancient Eight race into focus.
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