PRINCETON, N.J. – Yale's formula for success hasn't changed in the postseason. The Bulldogs used a big second half and played lock-down defense in posting a dominant 80-60 victory over Cornell in the first semifinal of the Ivy League Tournament at Princeton's Jadwin Gym.
Yale, the league's top defensive team, advances to meet Princeton in Sunday's championship game. The Tigers edged Penn 77-70 in the second semifinal. Tipoff is slated for noon and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
Leading by just three, 34-31, at halftime, the Bulldogs scored the first 12 points of the second half and outscored the Big Red 46-29 over the final 20 minutes.
"Defensively, we hunkered down and did a really good job," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "Offensively we did a great job of sharing the ball and finding each other."
Cornell, which came into the tournament leading the Ivy League in scoring offense, shot just 29 percent from the field in the second half. The 60 points scored were more than 22 below its season average.
Yale, on the other hand, got big contributions from a number of sources.
John Poulakidas led the attack with 25 points.
August Mahoney added 18 points, and
Bez Mbeng contributed 13 points.
EJ Jarvis had nine points, four rebounds and four blocked shots,
Matt Knowling, who returned after missing three games with an injury, scored six points and had six assists and
Isaiah Kelly had four points and six rebounds.
Yassine Gharram and
Danny Wolf both grabbed six rebounds off the bench.
The Bulldogs were 10-of-16 from three-point range and shot 48 percent overall. Yale was unselfish throughout the game as well, finishing with 20 assists on its 27 field goals.
"There is a lot of joy that spreads with the team when that happens and it's fun to watch and fun to see," Jones said.
Mahoney and Poulakidas did all of the damage from three-point range. Poulakidas, who also had seven rebounds and five assists, was 6-of-7 from deep. Jadwin Gym has become a second home to him. In Yale's victory at Princeton in the regular season, he scored a career-high 30 points.
"These rims find a way to like me I guess," Poulakidas joked afterwards.
Mahoney, the Ivy League's most accurate three-point shooter, finished 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.
During the course of the game, both Poulakidas and Mahoney passed up a three to feed the other for a better look.
"He's just as confident in me making the three as I am in him," said Mahoney. "When we are both making shots, it's definitely hard to guard."
Yale is seeking to win the tournament for the third straight time. The Bulldogs defeated Princeton in last year's title game 66-64 at Harvard. Yale also won in 2019 prior to COVID, knocking off Harvard 97-85 at Lee Amphitheater.
The Bulldogs defeated Princeton twice in this year's regular season, winning 87-65 at home on Jan. 28 and rallying from a 19-point second-half deficit to win 93-83 in overtime at Jadwin on Feb. 18.
