Yale completed its revenge tour of teams against defeated the Bulldogs earlier in the season with a decisive 76-58 win over Cornell at John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday.
And oh, what a Senior Night it was for senior forward EJ Jarvis.
The Washington, D.C. native notched a career-high 34 points on 13-for-18 shooting from the field, slamming home an array of spectacular dunks. Jarvis added a game-high 10 rebounds.
”I knew that it was a must-win, and I wanted to honor that,” Jarvis said.
”EJ had an out-of-body experience,” Yale coach James Jones said.
Jarvis has been a key cog in the Yale machine in Ivy play, ranking in the league’s top 10 in offensive and defensive rebound percentage, block percentage and fouls drawn per 40 minutes.
Jarvis had 18 points at the half, at which point Yale led 34-28.
Yale was playing its second straight game without leading scorer Matt Knowling, and first-year forward Danny Wolf was out with a stomach virus. Junior forward Yussif Basa-Ama played his first game since December 22, when he went down with a concussion.
The short-handed Bulldogs exploded out of the blocks in the second half with a 7-0 run.
Yale led 54-33 when Cornell went on a 17-7 run to cut the deficit to 61-50. The Big Red would get no closer.
“[Yale] was too tough,” Cornell coach Brian Earl said. “We have a lot of stuff to work on.”
It was Cornell’s fifth loss in the last six games.
Sophomore guard John Poulakidas added 14 points for Yale. Sophomore guard Nazir Williams led Cornell with 15 points on 6-for-8 field-goal shooting.
Yale outrebounded Cornell 33-26, and the usually disciplined Big Red had 19 turnovers.
Editor’s note: For more on the game and Ivy League Tournament tiebreakers for Cornell and Brown, read our recap.