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Cornell men’s basketball has been known for its offensive prowess over the last several seasons. But it added strong defensive efforts on Friday and Saturday night to defeat Dartmouth and Harvard at Newman Arena.
The Cornell (13-6, 5-1 Ivy) sweep left Jon Jaques’ squad in sole possession of second place in the Ivy League standings, one week before a crucial home game against first-place Yale.
After battling back from a 13-point second-half deficit, Dartmouth men’s basketball stymied Brown on its last two possessions and senior guard Ryan Cornish netted the last four points of the game, including two clutch free throws with 18 seconds left in regulation, to notch an 84-83 win at the Pizzitola Sports Center Saturday.
“As a senior, these guys are counting on me to get wins,” Cornish told ESPN+ after the team’s first Ivy League road win of the season. “If I’m shooting two free throws at the line, I’ve got to think who I’m doing it for.”
With three weeks of Ancient Eight competition in the books, the Big Green (8-9, 2-2 Ivy) are tied for fourth with Penn, while the Bears (9-8, 1-3) are matched with Harvard for sixth.
Seventy-seven days is a long time in a college hoops season of about 130 days.
It was an especially long time for Yale women’s basketball coach Dalila Eshe, since that was the length of time between her team’s opening-night win over Monmouth in November and a victory on Monday at Dartmouth.
Yale (2-15, 1-3 Ivy) upset Dartmouth (8-9, 2-2) 70-67 behind 22 points from senior forward Grace Thybulle.
“Grace had an incredible game,” Eshe said.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Bez Mbeng was not in the mood for mincing words after setting Yale’s all-time career steals record in an 83-67 win over Dartmouth Monday afternoon.
“I love defense,” Mbeng, who passed former Yale standout Alex Zampier (2006-10) for the record, said.
And as he has for most of the last three seasons for Yale, Mbeng led the way in that department Monday at Lee Amphitheater, harassing Ryan Cornish, Connor Amundsen, or whomever else he was in the neighborhood of, finishing with three steals to go with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
“It means a lot to me,” Mbeng said. “A lot of credit goes to my teammates and coaches for getting me better and putting me in good positions to get those steals. I’m just really thankful right now.”
Ivy Hoops Online correspondent George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps an instant classic 81-80 win for Princeton men’s basketball (13-4, 2-0 Ivy) at Dartmouth (7-8, 1-1) Saturday:
Before tipping off against Dartmouth women’s basketball on Saturday afternoon, Princeton took the court at Jadwin Gymnasium wearing freshly minted warmup shirts with the team’s “Get Stops” slogan colorfully displayed on the front.
The Tigers forcefully delivered on their wardrobe messaging.
The hosts held the Big Green to under 40 points in a dominant 63-39 triumph.
It was billed as a battle between the two top Ivy scorers. And it lived up to expectations.
Senior guard John Poulakidas notched 29 points, one off his career high, to lead Yale to a 92-88 win over Columbia at Levien Gym Saturday.
“I take my work and my craft very seriously,” Poulakidas said. “We have a team full of dogs.”
The Red and Blue got the late stop they needed down three, forcing a wild miss from the host Big Green’s Brandon Mitchell-Day with about 20 seconds left to play. But after securing the rebound, freshman point guard AJ Levine lost the handle as he crossed midcourt.
Dartmouth corralled the loose ball, and after an exchange of free throws and a missed desperation three from Penn’s Ethan Roberts, walked away with a 73-70 win.
The Quakers (4-10, 0-1 Ivy) dropped their Ivy opener for the first time since the 2019-20 season. They’ve only beaten the Big Green (7-7, 1-0) at Leede Arena once since 2019.
It could be a long slog of an Ivy season for the Red and Blue, which rank dead last in the conference in KenPom (307th). They got off to an 0-1 start because …
The Dartmouth women used a stifling defense to rout favored Brown 64-48 in the Ivy League opener for both teams at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
Going up against a Bears team (6-8, 0-1 Ivy) which tied for fourth last year and was picked for fifth in this year’s preseason media poll, the road win was a huge boost for a Big Green squad (7-7, 1-0) that was picked for the conference’s last spot.