M. Hoops upset by Cornell; Princeton clinches title

Princeton gets its third straight Ivy title with a win over Columbia. NEW YORK -- The ninth-ranked Princeton Tigers clinched their third consecutive Ivy League title Friday night minutes after defeating Columbia 51-37 in front of 3,400 at a sold-out Levien Gymnasium in New York. As Princeton (25-1, 13-0) left the court, the players believed they were still one win away from clinching the league title. Halfway through the press conference, however, it was announced that Penn had lost to Cornell, thereby putting Princeton ahead by three games with two games remaining. The clinch also made the Tigers the very first team to secure an NCAA tournament berth. The announcement turned Princeton coach Bill Carmody, who had been terse in his post-game comments about the looming likelihood of the tournament berth and Ivy title, into a giddy and smiling winner. After checking to make sure the 73-70 Cornell win over Penn was official, the relieved coach went around kissing his players in celebration. "I feel great. This is great, it makes the bus ride worth it. Wow," Carmody said. Carmody is now 23-0 in Ivy League play during his two years as head coach, and said despite clinching this league title his team is still focussed on finishing out the Ivy season undefeated. "I'm happy for Billy. He has taken them to another level of execution," Columbia coach Armond Hill said. The game played out in the same fashion as the teams' first meeting at Princeton four weeks ago. In that contest, Columbia (11-15, 6-8) was even with the Tigers with 10 minutes to play before falling 58-45. Friday night, the Lions, bolstered by a home crowd that was loud if not entirely in sync with its cheers due to the fact that students rarely show up to games, jumped out to an early 7-3 lead three minutes into the game. "They know our stuff, they were well prepared and they have a lot of juniors and seniors out there," Carmody said, referring to the fact that Hill was both a player and an assistant coach under former Princeton coach Pete Carill and uses much of what he learned at Princeton in his own system with the Lions. Despite missing two wide open layups, the Tigers stretched the lead to 15-9 midway through the opening half. Meanwhile the Tigers could not force the ball inside to center Steve Goodrich and instead fired away from three-point land. Princeton's first four field goals were from beyond the arc, but those were intermixed with numerous shots that clanged off the rim. Princeton was just 6-of-25 shooting in the first half, and an even more dismal 4-for-15 from three-point range. Nevertheless, seven offensive rebounds and Columbia's failure to convert off the Tigers' seven turnovers kept Princeton in the game and gave them a one-point halftime lead, 18-17. "I don't think we come in tentative, it was just a long bus ride and a tough crowd, and I think that is what slowed us down in the beginning," Princeton junior guard Brian Earl said. The hope of an upset that both Columbia and Penn fans were clinging to during intermission was dashed when Princeton came out red hot in the second half. The Tigers shot 12-of-18 after the break, including 5-for-10 from downtown. Four of Princeton's five starters hit at least two three-pointers. "They are an experienced group, and as the game wears on, that's when they begin to get strong," Hill said. "I hope my guys learn from that." The Lions' star guard Gary Raimondo had seven second half points, but those were not enough to stop the flood of Princeton offense. "All of a sudden maybe we went on a run, like 8 to two, that's not even a run, but in this type of game that can make a difference," Carmody said. The Tigers did not put together one devastating run, rather they used little five-point bursts to slowly bury Columbia, who could not get the deficit below nine points in the final eight minutes. Even when Goodrich picked up his fourth foul with 9:47 left to play, the Lions could not break through. Nathan Walton replaced Goodrich throughout the game and did not let the talent level drop, scoring six points and grabbing five rebounds in 18 minutes of action. James Mastaglio ended as Princeton's high scorer with 14 points while playing all 40 minutes of the game. In fact, three of Princeton's starters played all 40 minutes, while Earl played 37. Among the starting five, only Goodrich spent significant time on the bench, and that was due to constant foul trouble. Penn's loss to Cornell only ended the Ivy League one night early. Princeton would have clinched the title itself the following night when it defeated Cornell in Ithaca, 72-59.

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