Cornell men explode in second half to notch comeback victory over Yale

Brian Earl addresses the media after he was hired by longtime athletic director Andy Noel as Cornell men’s basketball coach in April 2016. Nearly seven years later, Earl has rejuvenated the program, with his team delivering a dramatic win over Yale Friday on Noel’s last day on the job before retiring. (Cornell University)

ITHACA, N.Y. — With 12:06 remaining, the Cornell men faced a 68-53 deficit to Yale and seemingly had no answers on the defensive end. The Bulldogs were shooting nearly 69% from the field and were dominating the interior.

But all of a sudden, something clicked for the Big Red. Cornell finished the game on a 41-14 mega-run to defeat the defending league champions 94-82 and move into solo second in the Ivy League.

“We don’t necessarily care being down a lot,” Cornell coach Brian Earl said. “Yale’s a great team. They scored on us a lot, but the waves of us coming and never stopping I felt was good. Our guys hung in there.”

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Yale women escape Harvard with 71-70 overtime victory

Yale was traveling from Hanover to Harvard Friday night and coming off a 97-53 home thrashing by Columbia a week before against a Crimson squad that had taken down mighty Princeton the same day. It seemed like a recipe for defeat.

But first-year coach Dalila Eshe’s team delivered a Saturday night stunner by pulling out a 71-70 overtime win at Lavietes Pavilion.

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Yale men fend off Harvard, 58-54, for first Ivy conference win

Yale senior forward EJ Jarvis helped lift his team past Harvard to notch the Bulldogs’ first Ivy conference win in three games Saturday night. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

“It’s Yale-Harvard. There is no other game like it.”

That quote from Yale men’s senior forward EJ Jarvis was spot on, and so was another:

“This was a must-win game.”

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Dartmouth men drop Yale to 0-2 in Ivy play in road upset

Dartmouth junior forward Dusan Neskovic scored an efficient 24 points in 32 minutes, making all four of his three-point attempts and shooting 7-for-10 from the field in the Big Green’s. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Yale men’s basketball was the clear favorite to claim a fifth Ivy League regular-season crown in the last seven seasons under James Jones.

Suddenly, though, the Bulldogs are 0-2 in Ivy play.

“For the last two hours, I did not see anything which resembled Yale basketball, and tip your cap to Dartmouth,” Jones said after his Bulldogs lost to Dartmouth, 81-77, at John J. Lee Amphitheater Friday night.

Yale had not given up more than 72 points in a game all season.

In fact, Yale (10-5, 0-2) hadn’t lost consecutive Ivy games since March 2019 and had not lost to Dartmouth since March 7, 2015, a game that opened the door for Harvard to tie Yale atop the Ivy standings and win an Ivy playoff game to nab its most recent NCAA Tournament berth.

Dartmouth (5-11, 1-1) held a narrow 34-33 lead at the half. Yale’s shooting woes from three-point land carried over from the Columbia loss last Friday, as the home team shot 0-for-8 from deep in the half. The Bulldogs finished 2-for-14 (14.3%).

Yale fell behind by as many as seven in the second half (54-47) but knotted the score at 58 on a Matt Knowling shot from close range.

Dartmouth then pulled ahead, 77-71. Yale cut it to 79-76 with junior guard August Mahoney on the free throw line with under five seconds remaining. Mahoney made the first and intentionally missed the second, but he committed a lane violation. Then the visitors added two free throws to seal the win.

“Winning games on the road is extremely hard,” Dartmouth coach David McLaughlin said. “We executed well.”

Dartmouth junior forward Dusan Neskovic posted 24 points on 7-for-10 field-goal shooting, including 4-for-4 from three-point range, in a standout performance. Sophomore guard Ryan Cornish contributed 18 points in just 23 minutes.

There were nine ties and nine lead changes.

“We tried to mix up our defenses,” Jones said. “Our team defense was not there.”

Yale was led in scoring by Knowling with 17 points. Sophomore guard Bez Mbeng had 15 and Mahoney 13. Both Mbeng and fellow sophomore guard John Poulakidas fouled out.

Yale is next in action Saturday night at home against Harvard. Dartmouth visits Providence to take on Brown after its overtime loss to Harvard there Friday night.

Columbia men hit upon keys to success in Ivy-opening upset of Yale

Princeton women’s basketball lost its first Ivy game in 43 contests dating back 1,423 days Saturday afternoon.

And it wasn’t even the biggest Ivy hoops upset of the day.

That accomplishment belonged to Columbia men’s basketball, which shrugged off its last-place projection in the Ivy preseason media poll to topple league rankings leader Yale at Levien Gym, 62-60.

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Columbia women blow out Yale, 97-53, in Ivy opener

Junior guard Abbey Hsu registered 13 points, five rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes in Columbia’s 97-53 rout of Yale Saturday afternoon. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Saturday was just another day at the office for high-flying Columbia women’s basketball.

The Light Blue defeated Yale, 97-53, at John J. Lee Amphitheater before a highly partisan Columbia crowd.

Columbia (12-2, 1-0 Ivy) never trailed in winning its ninth straight contest.

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Ivy men’s hoops observations as league play approaches

With conference play in the 2022-23 Ivy League men’s basketball season fast approaching, let’s take a look back at the nonconference results for each team and examine each program – listed by season winning percentage:

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Inside Ivy Hoops – Dec. 29, 2022

Ivy Hoops Online editor Mike Tony is joined by IHO writer Rob Browne to discuss the highlights of Ivy men’s and women’s basketball through this season’s nonconference slate, what to watch for as league play starts this weekend and much more:

Yale men smother Monmouth, 76-44

Wire-to-wire wins are always satisfying.

Yale men’s basketball got one Thursday night at Monmouth, throttling the Hawks, 76-44, at the OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch, N.J.

The game wasn’t even that close, as Monmouth mustered a 9-0 run toward the end of the game with the result well in hand and Yale reserves on the floor.

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Yale women can’t complete comeback, fall to Lehigh, 70-63

Down 13 in the final stanza hosting Lehigh Wednesday evening, Yale women’s basketball mounted a furious comeback, fueled by a three-point shooting barrage.

But the Bulldogs couldn’t close the deal, bowing to the Mountain Hawks, 70-63. at John J. Lee Amphitheater.

The Mountain Hawks had opened up an early 10-5 lead before Yale (6-7) fought back to lead 11-10 after the first quarter.

Lehigh (4-7) shot it well in the second quarter and led 31-25 at intermission before running out to a 36-27 lead early in the third quarter. The visitors led 53-43 heading into the last period.

“We started out locked in and intense on defense, then had [a] mental letdown in the second and third where we didn’t follow the game plan,” first-year Yale coach Dalila Eshe said.

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