After a pair of 17-point losses to first-place University of Pennsylvania and sixth-place Princeton this past weekend, the men's basketball team (10-13, 3-6 Ivy League) snapped their four-game Ivy League skid Tuesday night with a 70-64 victory over Yale.
On Friday night, Penn (15-8, 8-1) rolled into Providence and controlled both ends of the floor, winning 79-62. They boasted four players in double figures, led by Tim Begley and Ibrahim Jaaber, who poured in 22 points each. Along with his 22 points, Jaaber grabbed nine rebounds and picked up three steals. He was also instrumental in holding reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Jason Forte '05 to just four shot attempts. Forte finished with eight points, more than 11 below his season average. No Brown player reached double figures in scoring and the Bears shot a shockingly poor 4-of-23 from three-point range.
"The way the whole team has struggled from the outside has been strange," said co-captain Luke Ruscoe '06.
Coupled with Brown's cold outside shooting was Penn's domination of the paint as they out-rebounded the Bears 51-26. The game was not as close as the final score indicates as Penn used a 38-12 run in the second half to open up a 31-point lead. The Bears closed the gap to 17 behind strong play from Keenan Jeppesen '08 (nine points, five steals) and Marcus Becker '07 (seven points, four steals). Brown featured four first-years for an extended period in the second half as co-captains Forte and Ruscoe watched from the bench.
Brown's struggles continued the next night, as Princeton (12-11, 3-6) opened up a 26-point margin in the second half and cruised to a 69-52 victory. Forte tallied 26 points for Bruno, but no other Bear scored more than five. Princeton was led by All-Ivy guard Will Venebles with 18 points, four assists, four steals and five rebounds. Mike Stephens chipped in 15 points for the Tigers, who torched the nets in shooting 65 percent from the field while the Bears shot a pedestrian 37.8 percent.
"They hit some tough shots in the second half, but it was also a combination of us not playing great defense and Princeton getting those shots," Forte said.
Head Coach Glen Miller mixed up his lineup for this game, as three first-years found themselves in the starting lineup. Adolphe Coulibaly '08 and Jeppesen both started at forward and Mark MacDonald '08 was the starting center. Ruscoe had started 54 consecutive games dating to the 2002-2003 season, but came off the bench on Saturday.
Tuesday against Yale, Brown avoided digging itself into a hole early, opening the game with a 10-0 spurt on the shoulders of Forte and Jeppesen. Brown maintained a lead at or around double digits for the duration of the half as seven Bears found their way into the scoring column, resulting in a 36-27 halftime lead.
Brown went cold to start the second half, missing its first five shots, and Yale crept back into the game with good shooting and defense. The Elis took their first lead of the game, 56-55 on an Edwin Draughan jumper with 4:11 to play. After Draughan hit one of two free throws to make it 57-55, Ruscoe responded on the other end with a dunk and got fouled. He sank the subsequent free throw to give Brown the lead, 58-57, one that they would not surrender.
On Yale's next possession, Forte grabbed a defensive rebound and sunk a three-pointer on the other end to give Brown a 61-57 lead. Yale got it down to 65-64 on a trey by Eric Flato, but failed to score again. Forte, Ruscoe and Jeppesen combined to go 5-of-6 from the charity stripe in the final 21 seconds to seal the win.
During Coach Miller's five years at Brown, the Bears have prided themselves in their strong scoring attack. Miller's teams have led the Ivy League in scoring the last four years, and he has coached three of the top four scorers in Brown basketball history in Earl Hunt '03, Alai Nuualiitia '03 and Forte. This season, the Bears have struggled. Despite boasting Forte, the Ivy League's leading scorer, the Bears rank seventh in field goal percentage at 41.3 percent.
"We're relying on freshmen to score, and it's tough because you hit a wall during your freshman year," Forte said. "It's a long season, and everyone has seemed to go into a slump at the same time."
This weekend Brown travels to Dartmouth and Harvard, looking to avenge back-to-back losses to the Big Green and Crimson two weeks ago.
