Yale stays undefeated in Ivy with late comeback over Cornell

By Pete Janny (@pete_janny)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — This season in the Ivy League has been one of intense competition, requiring an equal level of focus to manage both the ups and downs.

However, the encounter between Yale and Cornell on Saturday was a spectacle of two teams each 6-0 in Ivy League play who were both able to avoid any gloom to date. 

After 40 minutes of nonstop pressure, Yale came away the king of the court thanks to a clutch-and-one from Matt Knowling off a mid-range push shot with three seconds left. Cornell had a clean look on the other end, but Nazir Williams’ three hit the front rim, clinching the 80-78 victory for the Bulldogs in a game they trailed by as many as 15 in.

It was one thing for Yale to get the result it craved

against a Cornell team expertly programmed on both ends of the floor. It was a completely different animal for the Bulldogs to do it in the manner they did. Cornell led for all but a few minutes of the game before Yale dug in over the final minutes to deliver a late stunner to the Big Red and its traveling pack of fans. Ultimately, 22 points from Chris Manon and 17 from Williams were not enough to keep Cornell undefeated in Ivy League play.

Yale trailed 69-62 with 7:57 left, but never once backed down to the chess match this game had become. The Bulldogs’ physicality was rewarded with 27 free throw attempts as they muscled their way to 17 offensive rebounds. And on a day where the hosts shot just 3-for-14 from beyond the arc, the Bulldogs’ faith in themselves was alive and well heading down the stretch. John Poulakidas continued his success in second halves this year, draining a three that cut the Cornell lead to 69-65 and another that seized the lead for Yale at 74-73, punctuating a 12-4 run. 

Despite a few late turnovers, the Bulldogs were never deterred. After a go-ahead basket from Manon with 28 seconds left allowed the Big Red to retake a 78-77 lead, Yale let the clock tick down to 14 seconds left and saw a shot from Bez Mbeng miss, which was hauled in by Danny Wolf. At that point, the Bulldogs still had time left to draw up one last play, and James Jones took his final timeout with four seconds left. On the ensuing baseline out of bounds play, Mbeng found Knowling after the senior forward slipped the screen, drew the foul on Isaiah Gray, and still managed to score on the play.

“It wasn’t the first option,” Jones said of looking for Knowling on the final play, which was initially designed for a corner three from Poulakidas coming off of Knowling’s screen. “It was probably (option) three or four.”

Jones seemingly had the presence of a sixth player on the floor with the way he left his imprints on this game from the sideline. Besides calling the timeout, Jones decided to keep Wolf in the game for the rest of the first half after the Ivy League Player of the Year favorite picked up his second foul at the 6:40 mark of the opening stanza. That gamble paid off, as the Bulldogs continued to feed Wolf, who overcame a personal six-minute scoreless stretch late in the first half to score three baskets down the stretch to cut the Cornell lead to 46-38 at halftime. Cornell made seven first-half threes — two each from Manon and Kelly Boothby — but failed to capitalize on a 39-24 cushion it held at the 4:53 mark.

“I was extremely proud as a coach to have the guys fight the way they did,” said Jones, whose campaign for a fourth NCAA Tournament berth at the helm of Yale is looking better with each passing day. “In a game where you go 3-for-14 from the three-point line and they make 10, and you still have a chance to win, you feel really good about your opportunities and chances.”

The Bulldogs were as prepared for Saturday’s game as any, too. Yale had four scorers in double digits, led by Wolf’s 25 points and 10 rebounds on 10-of-17 shooting. Jones’ team had eight days off, and took advantage of it by getting hard at work with the scout team. The Bulldogs knew they had to move the ball around the horn often after getting set up in the half-court, and also had a good feel for when they needed to ramp up the pressure in the Cornell backcourt. From an execution standpoint, it may have taken the Bulldogs longer than expected to adjust, but they issued credit where it was deserved. 

“Three minutes left in the game and I was super tired, but I was just thinking about how good of a team Cornell was,” said Wolf, who is closing in on averaging a double-double at 14.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. “Knowing their tendencies and picking up full court, and everything we did in practice, was super helpful.”

After the game, Jones was seen hugging students in the student section right across from the Yale bench. The soft-spoken coach was demonstrative the whole game, in fact, reaffirming just how badly he wanted to defend home court against a vaunted Cornell team after doing the same against an equally dangerous Princeton team, as well as Penn, last weekend. 

The Ivy League now runs through New Haven until further notice. And with even bigger targets on its collective back now, Jones pledged his team will be ready for what lies ahead at Penn and Princeton next weekend.

“All those teams we beat in this gym, we now need to do at their gym,” Jones said. “It won’t be easy, but that’s what we need to do.”