Crimson win playoff, gain NCAAs

Steve Moundou-Missi hit a 15-foot jumper with 7.2 seconds left; Wesley Saunders scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half; and Harvard beat Yale, 53-51, at the Palestra on Saturday in a one-game Ivy League playoff for its fourth straight NCAA tournament berth.

Saunders kept possession for Harvard on a Moundou-Missi miss by hustling for an offensive rebound before setting up Moundou-Missi's go-ahead basket.

Yale's Javier Duren missed a running layup at the buzzer as Harvard fans rushed the floor.

Justin Sears scored 13 points and Duren 12 for Yale (22-10). The Bulldogs missed out on their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1962.

With Harvard (22-7) trailing by one, Saunders hit a driving layup and was fouled, completing a three-point play to give the Crimson a 51-49 lead with 1 minute, 27 seconds left. Duren, who went 6 for 6 from the foul line in the final four minutes, hit two free throws to tie it at 51 with 54.6 seconds.

Yale and Harvard shared the Ivy League title with 11-3 records to set up the playoff to determine the conference's automatic NCAA bid. The Ivy is the only Division I league without a conference tournament.

After Yale took a five-point lead - matching its largest of the day - with 14 minutes, 50 seconds remaining, Saunders scored nine straight points on a three-point play and consecutive three-pointers to give the Crimson a 36-32 lead.

Saunders, the 2013-14 Ivy League player of the year, helped the Crimson extend their lead to 40-32 and then 46-37 with 6:10 left on two more quick jumpers.

Yale beat Harvard last Friday to clinch at least a share of its first league crown since 2002. But with a chance to secure the championship and the NCAA berth, the Bulldogs were upset by Dartmouth in the regular-season finale the following night.