Yale, Penn advance to set up mammoth Ivy Madness final

By Ray Curren (@rjcurren.bsky.social)

ITHACA, N.Y. — One expected, one unexpected in the Ivy League final Sunday afternoon.

Yale was the prohibitive favorite coming into the 2025-26 campaign and although there have been some stumbles along the way, including three league losses, the two-time defending champion came in as the top seed and favorite. 

The Bulldogs got a tough draw, though, in host and No. 4 seed Cornell, which had beaten Yale here in Ithaca two weeks ago and won eight of its last 11. Yale adjusted by using its size and strength advantage, particularly sophomore Isaac Celiscar, who scored a career high, with 27 points on 12-for-16 shooting from the field to help Yale prevail, 88-76. 

Celiscar took advantage of all the attention Ivy Player of the Year Nick Townsend received to get to the hoop at will, and also made his presence known on the defensive end. 

Even with Cornell on fire, it never led all afternoon, and the Big Red somehow never led, despite hitting 10 of its first 11 shots, 13 of its first 16, and six of its first eight from behind the arc. But Yale was dominating the offensive glass, grabbing nine of its first 12 misses to keep its nose in front, eventually leading 49-42 at the break on a Trevor Mullin driving layup. Cornell got a little better on the defensive glass, but Yale still rebounded more than half its misses for the game.

Cornell, with the capacity crowd behind it, made a couple of runs, getting to within 61-58 on an Anthony Nimani drive with 14:03 left, and then got the crowd to its feet on a Jacob Beccles three that made it 72-68 with 7:52 remaining.

But after the Big Red’s white-hot start, Cornell went just as cold down the stretch, finishing just 11-for-37 from behind the arc after starting 6-for-8. Cooper Noard, in his final college game, was just 1-for-11 from three-point range, while Adam Hinton missed his last five from that range.

Eventually Celiscar got a traditional three-point play and Jordan Brathwaite (who had 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting and is another player whose role increased dramatically) hit a three, and Cornell never seriously threatened again, although it did get to within five with 1:30 left.

Cornell actually finished with more offensive rebounds than Yale (19 to 16), which spoke to its effort and desperation in the second half (and how many shots they missed).

Jake Fiegen led the Big Red with 23 points, while Beccles - who had hit just 16 threes all season entering Saturday - had a big game with 18 points and three triples (and seven offensive rebounds). Beccles is the one starter that will return for the Big Red as Cornell looks to continue the success it has had in the past few seasons.

“I have to watch the film and see how good the looks for, but I felt live like most of them were good looks,” Cornell coach Jon Jaques said. “Maybe a couple could have gotten a cleaner look, but my gut reaction is that they were good looks. Cooper is not going to shoot 1-for-11 very often, he just had a tough shooting day.”

Meanwhile, Townsend added 15 points and six assists for Yale, who will go after its third straight Ivy Madness title and sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 11 seasons (with two of them not having Ivy participation). It’s a remarkable run for a program that spent so long as an Ivy afterthought. The win was the first over an Ivy Madness host since the inaugural tournament in 2017, when fourth-seeded Penn fell in overtime to Princeton at The Palestra.

“A lot of people think that this just happens,” Yale coach James Jones said. “This doesn’t just happen. We’re very fortunate to be in this position to play for a championship again. But it’s really hard. As I get older, I think it’s getting harder year by year to do this. But I’m very fortunate to have a coaching staff and players that know how to play in these situations and to practice for it all year.”

Penn 62, Harvard 60 (OT)

Fran McCaffery, let go just a year ago from Iowa, will play to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2023, and his alma mater he’s now coaching will look for its first since 2018 (and only second since 2007) after outlasting second-seeded Harvard.

Penn was picked just seventh in the Ivy preseason poll, but McCaffery, with Duke and Virginia transfer TJ Power in tow, had other ideas. The Quakers started the Ivy season 2-4, but have now won eight of nine and won this one without captain Ethan Roberts, who will unfortunately miss the rest of the season with a concussion, his second of the season.

“We had a lot of different guys make plays and I think that’s the key to our team,” McCaffery said. “TJ carried us in the first half, but there were some different guys who scored the ball in the second half. Defensively, we were connected pretty much the whole game. Second half didn’t start the way we would have liked, credit to them, but we kept our composure, and there were a number of game-winning plays. I just can’t say enough about the number of guys who contributed in this game, I’m so proud.”

The Quakers raced to an early lead behind Power, who had 11 in the first six minutes of the contest. Lucas Lueth, who filled the stat sheet and had a huge play in overtime when he jumped on a loose ball and called timeout, scored to make it 23-16 with 5:28 to go in the first half.

But Harvard, whose offense had looked miserable to that point, suddenly found its footing and cut it to 30-26 at the break. The Crimson continued in the second half and led most of the rest of regulation, but could never quite get away, its biggest lead only five.

So when Michael Zanoni finally hit a three-pointer and Jay Jones followed with a jumper, it was suddenly tied at 51 with 2:30 remaining. After Ben Eisendrath gave Harvard the lead, McCaffery drew up a tremendous play for Zanoni to tie it again.

Both teams had a chance to win it in regulation, but to overtime it went. Penn raced to a 58-53 lead on an Augie Gerhart lay-in, but the Crimson battled back again, eventually tying the game on a Tey Barbour layup with 20 seconds left.

But McCaffery and his staff drew up another great play, allowing AJ Levine to get the game-winning driving layup with five seconds left. Barbour had a tough look at the buzzer to win it, but it wasn’t close, and Harvard’s bid to return to the Big Dance for the first time since 2015 was gone (it was the Crimson’s first Ivy Tournament in seven years).

“We worked on that action all week,” Levine said. “It’s worked every time we’ve done it. It was just a matter of me coming off the screen and getting downhill. That was the easy part.”

Barbour had 16 points and Eisendrath 15 (which tied a career high) to lead the Crimson, who held Thomas Batties to eight points, and all-Ivy selection Robert Hinton to just six on 3-for-13 shooting (and 0-for-6 from behind the arc). 

Harvard did not shoot a free throw in regulation and had just two in the game (Penn shot only eight).

Power’s 16 led Penn, with Cam Thrower and Zanoni adding 11. The Quakers have a tall task Sunday afternoon to try to dethrone Yale, who swept Penn in the regular season, but — especially without Roberts — the Quakers don’t have much to lose.

“The first game Yale just played better than us, they were substantially better than us that day,” McCaffery said. “We went back and played them the second time, and we battled, but they have some special players that won them the game. I think we have to play consistently the second time and we’ll have a chance.”