Is Dartmouth Threat To Penn's Power?

Entering the home stretch of the college basketball season, teams jockeyed for position in the Ivy League standings last week.

Dartmouth managed to dethrone Brown and to gain sole possession of second place in the league. Penn also won twice more, setting the stage for a showdown on the 17th.

Yale and Brown both split to hold on to their positions in the middle of the pack. Both teams are joined by Princeton, who won both of its games this week by 20 point margins.

Cornell slipped, losing twice, to join Harvard and Columbia in the basement of the Ivy League.

Coming off big wins including a 71-70 victory over previously number two Brown, Dartmouth has taken sole control of second place in the Ivies. Led by the play of Ivy League Player of the Week Sea Lonergan, who scored 43 points in wins over Yale and Brown, Dartmouth has moved into position to make a run at the Ivy League title. Lonergan is leading the league in scoring with 17.2 points per game.

Penn improved its league record to 7-0 with wins over the sliding Cornell and cellar dwellar Columbia. Aided by the play of junior forward Ira Bowman, who scored 29 points and had 10 steals in Penn's week sweep, the Quakers outscored their opponents 191-126. Penn's rout of Cornell marked the first time that it has broken the 100-point barrier since the 1978-79 season.

Penn is leading the league in scoring by more than 10 points, averaging 83.7 points per game. The majority of those 83.7 ppg has been a result of five Penn players averaging double digits. One of those players, Scott Kegler, turned in a brilliant performance from three point territory against Columbia, hitting four of five. On the one miss, Kegler retrieved his own rebound, returned to behind the three point line and sank the shot.

Coming off of a victory over Harvard, Brown lost its share of second place with a narrow defeat over Dartmouth. Led by junior guard Eric Blackiston, who had 29 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the week, Brown managed to hold on to sole possession of third place in the league.

After three pointer by junior guard Brian Lloyd, Brown had a chance to win late in the game against Dartmouth. But when Dartmouth's Kenny Mitchell stole the ball with four ticks left, the Bears' fate was sealed.

Penn wasn't the only team to gang up on Columbia and Cornell last week. Princeton also got in on the act with a 28 point victory over Columbia and a 26 point victory over Cornell.

In the two Tiger wins, forward Chris Doyal had 30 points and 17 rebounds while guard Mitch Henderson turned in an impressive 25 point. Henderson returned to the floor after a four game absence due to injury.

Yale, sparked by a 26 point output by junior center Bernie Colson, split its two games for the week. The Elis followed up a 13 point loss to Dartmouth with an eight point victory over Harvard. Despite being outrebounded 23-8 in the first half, Yale managed to overcome a halftime deficit to beat Harvard, 73-65.

Cornell suffered two rough defeats to Princeton and powerhouse Penn last week. Despite a 31 point effort by junior guard Brandt Schuckman, Cornell was outscored 140-196 this week.

Harvard and Columbia managed to hold on to their positions in the Ivy League cellar. However, Harvard dropped two tough ones this week, while Columbia was clobbered.

Harvard lost a halftime lead for the fifth time this year in its eight point loss to Yale. Also, the Crimson barely lost to Brown. Sophomore forward Kyle Snowden turned in another stellar performance last week with 28 points and 20 rebounds.

Columbia on the other hand was outscored 126-191 on the week to preserve its 10-game losing streak. Columbia is last in many Ivy League categories, including scoring offense, scoring margin, scoring defense and the all important won-loss percentage.