Get schooled.
Key sequence: After Ryan Wittman gave Cornell the lead with a layup at the 4:41 mark, Brian Kreefer took over. He came up with a steal on Northwestern’s next possession, then grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled. Kreefer hit one of two at the line, then drilled a crucial three-pointer with 2:11 left to give the Big Red a 60-55 lead.
Key sequence: After Kyle Koncz’s three-pointer cut Loyola’s lead to just a single point early in the second half, a lid appeared to descend on the Princeton basket. On their next five possessions, the Tigers missed three layups and three three-pointers, as the Ramblers re-built their lead to nine. Layups by Koncz and Mike Strittmatter brought Princeton back to within 40-34 at the 12:09 mark, but Loyola scored the next six points to push the margin to double digits.
Key sequence: Trailling by one with the ball, Penn used its final timeout with 54 seconds left. Assumably with a two-for-one in mind, Aron Cohen quickly hoisted up an unnecessary — but open — three-point attempt from 25 feet away. The shot missed badly and Penn was forced to foul. Daron Clarke hit the first free throw and missed the second, but Stefon Jackson was able to get his hands on the offensive board and put it back in to make it a 68-64 game with just 23 seconds left.
With Jason Hartford is not healing as quickly as planned from offseason foot surgery, Cornell coach Steve Donahue told The Ithaca Journal that his power forward may be forced to sit out the entire 2006-07 season. Hartford suffered the original foot injury late last season and did not play the final weekend. Hartford also missed five non-league games earlier in the season with a broken wrist. He was effective when on the floor, averaging 7.7 points on 55.5 percent shooting (46.2 percent from three-point range) and 3.8 rebounds in 19.1 minutes per game. If he does miss he season, Hartford should be able to get an additional year of eligibliity from the NCAA and the Ivy League, assuming everything clears on the academic side.
The Harvard Crimson reports that Harvard freshman Tomas Balcetis left the program early in the preseason due to a heart condition. In the article, Balcetis said, “I’ve had this condition for like four years now. t’s never been really serious at all, but when the level of basketball increases, the workload increases, so it’s kind of hard to sometimes go 100 percent, and college basketball is all 100 percent or nothing. I decided that maybe I should step down and maybe make basketball my hobby.â€