On a night when three of four Ivy teams were victorious, it seems a tad negative to focus on Brown. But while Cornell was rolling over Army, Yale was rallying past a scrappy Navy team, and Harvard was blowing a lead then coming back to beat Colgate, the Bears suffered not one but two painful losses against an inferior opponent.
Injury to insult
Losing to one of the real doormats in Division I — a UMES team the Bears beat by 49 on the road last year — is definitely disconcerting, but today you can bet the main thing on the minds of the Brown coaches is the health of senior captain Luke Ruscoe. Ruscoe went down in the first half last night with what was described on the Brown radio broadcast as a serious foot or ankle injury. He’s the one guy Glen Miller couldn’t afford to lose. Entering last night’s game, Ruscoe led the team in scoring and rebounding and was tied for the team lead in assists. If the injury turns out to be a season-ender, Brown could really struggle in the league this year. We’re talking possibly one or two Ivy wins.
Harvard gets to 8-3
It wasn’t its best effort, but Harvard was able to take care of business in the end against Colgate. The Crimson looked poised to blow open the game when it built an 11-point advantage midway through the first half, but proceeded to let Colgate back in the game. Things looked bad when Colgate took a six-point lead inside the 7:00 mark, but Harvard ripped off a 13-0 run to go back on top by seven with just over a minute left. Freshman Drew Housman scored six of those points en route to a game- and career-high 21 points, and Matt Stehle scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half as Harvard won its third straight without Brian Cusworth.
Cornell gets well
It turns out all Cornell needed to cure its offensive woes was an afternoon game against a really poor Army team. The Big Red did what a team in its position should do: punish an inferior opponent. Cornell held its guests to 4-for-22 shooting in the first half and cruised to a blowout win. Steve Donahue switched up his lineup, starting Wofford transfer Ugo Ihekweazu in place of a struggling Ryan Rourke. The Big Red got balanced scoring, with eight different players scoring six or more points, which took pressure off Lenny Collins. Collins played much more under control, shooting 4 for 6 and only committing one turnover after struggling mightily at Bucknell.
Bulldogs show late fight
Yale trailed Navy for the first 30 minutes — and by as many as 10 points — before a key 14-4 run put the Bulldogs in front for good. Eric Flato followed his 20-point outburst on Sunday with 19 points last night, and freshman Chris Andrews made a pair of big steals in the final seconds to preserve the win. Casey Hughes’s bipolar season continued with a 14-point performance after scoring two points in his previous two games combined. Dominick Martin scored just five points in 24 minutes, but did grab 12 boards against an excellent rebounding opponent. Yale again struggled with turnovers, committing 21 on the evening.
Tonight’s action
Vermont (3-5) at Dartmouth (1-5) – 7:00 pm
The road has not been kind to the Big Green this season, so you can imagine how happy Terry Dunn must be to return home. Dartmouth has dropped four straight going into tonight’s game against Vermont. The Catamounts are in a major rebuilding year, but already have a pair of nice wins over Wagner and Holy Cross at home and played respectably at undefeated Pittsburgh in their previous outing. Vermont is winless on the road this season, while Dartmouth won its only home game thus far, so the Big Green would like to keep both streaks intact. History is not on Dartmouth’s side, as the Catamounts have won the last six meetings, including seven straight at Leede Arena. This is Vermont’s second game against an Ivy opponent, having already lost 65-57 Harvard in the season opener.
Princeton (2-6) vs. Stanford (3-4) – 8:30 pm –
This looked like nice matchup before the season, but both Princeton and Stanford are off to alarmingly poor starts. Princeton’s struggles have been well documented on here, while Stanford has lost to the likes of UC Irvine and UC Davis. The Cardinal’s problems have been largely offensive, as the defense ranks a healthy 88th in efficiency. Specifically, Stanford has shot the ball very poorly — 28.6 percent from three-point range and 40.7 percent overall. Keep an eye on Cardinal senior Dan Grunfeld tonight. The preseason Wooden All-American candidate is coming off major knee surgery and is off to a brutal start, hitting just 8 of 29 (27.6 percent) from the outside and 36 of 95 (37.9 percent) overall. The Tiger centers will have their hands more than full with Stanford big man Matt Haryasz, who comes in averaging 19.5 points and 11.2 rebounds per contest. Princeton will again be without senior captain Scott Greenman, who is sidelined by a back injury. The Tigers have won all three meetings between the two schools, but those were all before any of the Princeton players were born. Stanford is a 15- to 17-point favorite tonight.
