NEW HAVEN, Conn. – If this weekend is any indication, Ivy Madness sure is going to be fun. Yale faced off against two of the three teams that will join them in Boston on Mar. 12-13. On Friday, the Bulldogs earned a hard-fought 81-72 win over Penn. On Saturday, Princeton came into Lee Amphitheater and edged Yale 81-75. Both games were highly entertaining.
Saturday's loss snapped the Bulldogs' seven-game winning streak. Yale and Princeton are now tied for first place, both with 9-2 Ivy records.
The Bulldogs close out the regular season with games at Dartmouth on Tuesday, at Cornell next Saturday and at home vs. Brown on Mar. 5. The Tigers play Harvard in their next two games and then close out the regular season at Penn on Mar. 5.
Tosan Evbuomwan led Princeton with 26 points and 11 rebounds in the victory over the Bulldogs. Eighteen of his points came in the second half, as the Tigers went more to their inside game after hitting 8-of-16 three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.
Azar Swain led three Bulldogs in double figures with 18 points.
Bez Mbeng added a career-high 17, and
Jalen Gabbidon scored 13.
The score was tied at 44 at halftime, but Princeton opened the second half with a 10-3 run. Yale rallied and closed to within two, 77-75, on a Gabbidon three-pointer with 1:12 remaining. The Tigers, though, scored their final four points from the free throw line to escape with the victory.
"We let some possessions get away from us at both ends of the floor," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs.
Tuesday's game at Dartmouth is a 7 p.m. tip.
