Brown Upsets Princeton in First Ever Ivy Madness Game, Will Play for NCAA Tournament Berth Sunday

The Brown men’s basketball team started fast and held off a late run from top seeded Princeton in a 90-81 victory on Saturday afternoon in the Ivy Madness Semifinals. The win moves Brown to the Ivy Madness Championship game on Sunday afternoon, where it will face off against No. 2 seed Yale, who topped Cornell 69-57 in Saturday’s other semifinal. Tipoff is set for noon on ESPN2.

The upset marks the first time in Ivy Madness history, which was first held in 2017, that the No. 4 seed defeated the No. 1 seed in the semifinals.

Three Bears registered double-doubles, led by a game-high 27 points, a career-high 10 assist and zero turnovers from Kino Lilly Jr.Nana Owusu-Anane tallied 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds on 8-of-11 shooting to go with four assists, two blocks and two steals. Kalu Anya added 13 points and 11 rebounds on 5-of-9 shooting. Alexander Lesburt Jr. tallied 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting with a team-high three steals.

As a team, Brown shot 55.9 percent from the floor and 36.4 percent from three-point range. Defensively, Brown held Princeton to 41.1 percent from the floor and just 25.7 percent from three-point range. Brown also outrebounded the Tigers 41-32. The 90 points scored by Brown were the most in a non-overtime game against a Division I opponent this season and was the season-high allowed by the Tigers, who entered the game with the league’s best scoring defense.

Princeton started 3-for-4 from beyond the arc to hold an early 9-4 lead. Lyndel Erold drilled an open three from the right wing to tie the game 9-9, then Anya answered a Princeton triple with a three of his own, and defense turned to offense as Owusu-Anane slammed one home off the Erold assist in transition to give Brown its first lead, 14-12 at the first media timeout at 14:16.

Lilly pulled up and drained a deep three from near the midcourt logo to put Brown back in front 21-19 at the second media timeout. Brown extended the run to 7-0 with a Malachi Nadur layup and Lilly baseline jumper to extend the lead to 25-19 following the timeout. Lilly drained a three-pointer to grow the lead to double digits for the first time at 35-24, which extended Brown’s run to 17-5. Lesburt’s three with 1:07 to go gave Brown its largest lead of the half, 44-29.

Overall, Brown shot 54.5 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from three-point range in the opening half to hold a 44-31 lead at halftime.

The Bears picked up right where they left off coming out of the locker room as Owusu-Anane drove the lane untouched and slammed one home to build the lead to 17, 50-33, prompting a Tigers’ timeout less than two minutes in. The lead grew to a game-high 22 following a Lilly jumper and the Bears held a 20-point cushion at the 15:48 timeout.

A 5-0 run for Princeton pulled the Tigers within 16 on two occasions before Lilly ended the spells with a pair of three-point plays to help get it back to 19.

The Tigers clawed back within 13 after layup, but Lesburt was left all by himself on the inbound for the breakaway dunk that got it back to 70-55 with 7:43 to go.

The Tigers got within single digits with a 9-2 run in less than two minutes to pull within 75-66 with 4:43 to go, prompting a Brown timeout. Princeton continued to chip away and would get within three with 45 seconds remaining. Lilly Jr. hit four free throws, Lesburt had a breakaway layup, and Anya came away with two huge defensive stops, including a block and a steal down the stretch to keep the Tigers scoreless and lock down the victory.