Big Green Takes Early League Lead

It's on. Another Ivy League men's basketball season tipped off Tuesday, as Dartmouth traveled to Cambridge to face Harvard in the Ancient Eight opener.

The Big Green, owners of a perfect 4-0 mark following a 73-72 squeaker over Army Saturday, held off the Crimson 70-61 to start the season perched atop the league standings. Guard Sea Lonergan poured in 30 points on the night, shooting 11-11 from the free-throw line to single-handedly sink Harvard.

The Crimson did get an impressive 23-point, four-assist performance from freshman point guard Tim Hill in his first Ivy League game, but poor shooting (39 percent from the floor) proved the squad's undoing. Even junior forward Kyle Snowden's persistent pounding on the boards could not salvage the night for Harvard. Snowden grabbed 14 boards, including five offensive rebounds in the defeat. The loss was the second for the home team in as many games and dropped its record to 4-2, 0-1 Ivy.

The other six Ivy League schools will not begin their Ancient Eight seasons until after the holidays, but they continued to tune-up against non-league competition this past week.

Princeton (4-1) suffered its first set-back of the season Tuesday, 65-56 at the hands of intrastate rival Mon-mouth. The Tigers' offense sputtered, managing just 20 points by halftime. Only freshman guard Brian Earl reached double figures, leading the Tigers with 11 points. The loss snapped Princeton's four-game winning streak during which it outscored its opponents by an average of just under 12 points per game.

There will be no rest for the Tigers, as they play another six games before opening their league season against archrival Penn on January 6.

Columbia dropped to 3-5 with a 64-51 loss to Lafayette Tuesday. The Lions were dreadful, hitting on only 35.4 percent of their field goals. Freshman guard Gary Raimondo remained one of the few bright spots on the team, canning five three-pointers to finish with 15 points. Guard C.J. Thompkins's 17 points and nine rebounds made him the only other Columbia hoopster to perform respectably in the losing effort.

Defending Ivy League champion Penn (1-3) endured a week of mixed results, rallying to knock off Towson St. 67-61 thanks to 27 points from Ivy League Player of the Week Ira Bowman.

However, Penn faltered against Penn St., 88-61. The Quakers faced the Nittany Lions on neutral ground at the Atlantic City Shootout, but the result was decidedly one-sided. Another top-notch performance by Bowman was the only thing that kept the final score respectable, as he contributed 19 points and seven boards to follow up his monster game at Towson St.

Cornell (2-2) played an unexpectedly abbreviated schedule this week. The Big Red beat up on Lehigh 82-61, it but had its Saturday matchup at Buffalo postponed due to a massive snowstorm that buried Western New York under three-and-a-half feet of snow. The break could benefit Cornell as it prepares to host Adonal Joyle and Colgate this weekend before taking off to face LSU in New Orleans after Christmas.

Brown (1-5) may be better than its record indicates. The Bears have had a tough time of it lately, losing three games by a combined margin of just seven points, the last two to St. Francis (NY) and Maryland-Eastern Shore. But with senior guards Steve Silas and Eric Blackiston beginning to find their touches from outside, they are sure to bounce back.

The Bears were among the Ivy League's top three-point shooting teams last season, converting on 37.4 percent of their attempts from behind the arc. And with Ivy League Rookie of the Week Kamal Roundtree--a 6-8 forward--beginning to establish himself, Brown might just steal one of its first two league games at Penn and Princeton come January.

One has to commend Yale athletic director Tom Beckett for his ambition in scheduling his team for a road game at powerhouse Connecticut. Of course, the Elis (3-4) had no business stepping on the court with the nation's No. 8 team, and it showed, as the Huskies cruised to a 93-66 victory Friday.

The Elis won a fairer game the previous night, topping Holy Cross 78-75. Senior forward Boe Lintz was the hero for Yale, racking up 15 points and 13 boards. The win was the 200th in coach Dick Kuchen's career.