Brown Upsets Harvard — Back in the Ivy League Playoff Hunt
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Brown had not beaten Harvard since President Barack Obama was in his first term as President, star sophomore Desmond Cambridge had been having a horrific Ivy season, and Brown was just about dead and buried in the effort to qualify for the conference four-team playoff going into Friday night's game.
Everything changed.
Cambridge came to play and put on a show for ages ages pouring in a game high 30 points to lead Brown to an 88-79 win over Harvard at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBrown improves to 16-9 overall, 4-5 in the Ivy League, while Harvard falls to 13-9, 6-3 in Ivy play.
"I'm really proud of our team with an excellent win for our program," said Brown head coach Mike Martin. "We played a great defensive game in the first half and won the game with our offense in the second half. We had excellent contributions off the bench with Brandon Anderson and George Mawanda-Kalema. Matt DeWolf also gave us some great baskets."
Harvard trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half and cut Brown's lead to three points, 82-79, on a Noah Kirkwood layup with 1:04 remaining. Brown hitting four of six from behind the 3-point line was key.
Bears' sophomore forward Matt DeWolf -- the big man from Barrington -- scored on a layup on a pass from Cambridge with 41-seconds remaining for an 84-79 lead.
A steal by Cambridge led to two Brandon Anderson (Mahwah, NJ) free throws for an 86-79 Brown lead with 28 seconds left, and Anderson hit two more free throws with 21 seconds on the clock for an 88-79 Bears' advantage with 21-seconds left, putting the game out of reach.
Cambridge regained his shooting touch, connecting on 11-of-21 field goals, including 5-of-8 from beyond the three-point arc, while blocking four shots.
Bears' senior captain Obi Okolie contributed 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field, while hitting 8-of-8 free throws. Sophomore Tamenang Choh, the Ivy League's leading rebounder, posted his eighth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Anderson finished with 13 points, while DeWolf and Sophomore George Mawanda-Kalema added eight points each.
Kirkwood paced the Crimson with 28 points, hitting 11-of-18 field goals and 5-of-9 treys, while Bryce Aiken chipped in with 17 points and six assists.
Brown raced out to a nine point lead, 21-12, following a steal and layup by Chris Sullivan (Wilmette, IL) at the eight minute mark of the opening half.
The Crimson cut Brown's lead to three points, 25-22, on an Aiken layup with 4:40 left in the half. The Bears closed out the opening half on a 15-5 run to grab its largest lead, 37-27, at intermission.
Harvard opened the second half with an 8-0 run to trail, 37-35, but Brown quickly responded and went back up by 10 points, 49-39, following two Choh free throws with 14:05 left in the game.
The Bears are back at the Pizzitola Sports Center tomorrow evening, Saturday, February 23, to face Dartmouth. Tip-off is 6:00 pm.
