With several Ivy schools breaking for exams, only two conference games took place over the weekend.
Yale took on Brown in New Haven on Friday in a battle of undefeated Ivy squads. On Saturday Cornell hosted Columbia, looking to avenge its 75-58 loss at the hands of the Lions a week ago.
Last Thursday night, League favorite Penn took on cross-town rival Temple in what turned out to be one of the ugliest games of the season.
Temple 44, Penn 40
Horrendous shooting in both halves marred the 55th meeting of these Philadelphia foes. The victorious Temple shot 30 percent from the floor and hit three of 20 three-pointers while Penn hits only 19 percent of its treys and 28 percent of its total shot attempts.
The teams finished the first period tied at 18 and Temple took the game with a mere 26-point second half.
Nearly half of those 26 points came from Quincy Wadley, who scored all 12 of his points in the second half. A Wadley free throw with 17.6 seconds left put the Owl up 44-40, sealing the victory.
For Penn, point guard Michael Jordan led the way, scoring 13 points on five-for-15 shooting. Shooting guard Matt Langel added 10 in hitting three-for-14.
Yale 67, Brown 53
The teams that took turns pounding Harvard and Dartmouth a weekend ago faced each other with the early Ivy League lead at stake.
Yale, now 3-0 in the Ancient Eight, used 18 points from sophomore guard Onaje Woodbine for a surprisingly easy win over the Bears, who fell to 2-1.
The 3-0 start is Yale's best since the 1978-79 season.
The Bulldogs doubled Brown's scoring output in the first half, heading to the locker room with a 34-17 lead. The Bears' comeback attempts proved impotent, largely because they were outrebounded by seven and turned the ball over 20 times in the contest.
The Bulldog defense collected eight steals.
Yale had no other double-digit scorers, though center Neil Yanke and forward Ted Smith each scored nine and guard Jason Williams and forward John Kirkowski each had eight.
For the Bears, Alaivaa Nuualiitia sank nine free throws and had team highs with 15 points and eight rebounds. No other Brown player scored more than seven points or grabbed five boards.
Columbia 69, Cornell 66
The Big Red recovered from a 20-point deficit with 9:53 left in the second half to force overtime, but eventually lost as Lions backup forward Patrick Hernandez scored his only points of the game on four free throws in the last 45 seconds of the OT.
With the win, Columbia moved into second place in the Ivies with a 2-0 record.
Cornell trailed 53-33 with under 10 minutes remaining in the game, only to score 19 unanswered points.
The Big Red even took a three-point lead with 53 seconds left when sophomore point guard Wallace Prather hit consecutive three-pointers.
Columbia's Craig Austin hit a three, which Cornell answered with a two-point basket, but Lion guard Derrick Mayo made a reverse layup with 4.1 seconds left in regulation to tie the contest at 60.
After trailing early, the Lions led 33-22 at the half.
Austin forward Joe Case, who had 17 and 18 points on the night, led Columbia's scoring.
Prather scored 16 for Cornell and reserve forward Keirian Brown knocked down 15. The team's leading scorer for the season. Forward Ray Mercedes, had 13 points to go with nine rebounds.
The loss drops Cornell to seventh place in the League with an 0-2 record.
