Yale rolls past Cornell in Ivy semis
PRINCETON, N.J. — John Poulakidas appears right at home inside Princeton's Jadwin Gym.
Thanks to the sophomore guard's red-hot shooting and a lightningquick second-half run, Yale is one win away from a repeat trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Poulakidas shot 6-of-7 from 3-point range to score a game-high 25 points and the top-seeded Bulldogs blew past fourth-seeded Cornell for an 80-60 semifinal victory at the Ivy League men's basketball tournament on Saturday.
Yale (21-7) made its first five shots of the second half for a 12-0 run that broke open a previously close game. The defending champion Bulldogs finished the day shooting 48.2 percent from the floor — including 53.6 percent in the second half — and 10of-16 from the arc.
Poulakidas added seven rebounds and five assists. His shooting form resembled the night that he scored a career-high 30 points in a win at Princeton three weeks ago.
“I guess these rooms sort of find a way to like me, I guess,” Poulakidas said. “I'm just glad that we were able to get the job done — and like our coach mentioned, job's not finished.”
The Bulldogs will face either second-seeded Princeton or on Sunday (noon, ESPN2) to decide the tournament champion and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Junior guard August Mahoney had 18 points and sophomore guard Bez Mbeng chipped in 13. Mahoney knocked down 4of-6 from the arc to account for the rest of Yale's threes.
“Our offense was stagnant from time to time, but for the most part we did a really good job at trying to find a teammate and make someone better,” Yale coach James Jones said. “There's a lot of joy that spreads with the team when that happens, and it's fun to watch and fun to see.”
Yale leading scorer Matt Knowling played for the first time since suffering an ankle injury Feb. 17. The junior forward came off the bench for six points and a game-high six assists, often kicking it out to Mahoney and Poulakidas for open looks.
“Matt's a huge piece of our offense and he draws so much attention from other teams' defenses,” Mahoney said. “He's very cerebral so whenever he draws two or maybe even three sometimes, he does a great job in moving the defense
Sideline Photos/Contributed with his eyes and finding the open guy.”
Guy Ragland Jr. had 12 points and seven rebounds and Chris Manon added 12 points and five steals to lead Cornell (17-11).
Senior forward EJ Jarvis opened the second half by converting a threepoint play for Yale. Mbeng made a shot in the lane and Poulakidas added his fourth 3-pointer of the game.
Cornell got out of sorts and allowed consecutive fast-break layups to Mbeng. Yale expanded its lead to 46-31, forcing the Big Red to use a timeout just 2:11 into the half.
“We just try to play our game, honestly. Just take what the defense gives us,” Mbeng said. “(Second) half we just jumped on them. It started with EJ with the and-one, and from there it felt like the energy was on our side. We took advantage of that and capitalized.”
Poulakidas was left open for two more 3-pointers to make it a 52-35 game. Cornell started to get its offense going again, but it was too late once Yale posted a five-point possession — three foul shots following a Cornell technical, then a layup by sophomore guard Yassine Gharram — to increase the lead to 6142.
The Bulldogs held on for the final 10 minutes, leading by no fewer than 13 the rest of the way.
Poulakidas made his first three 3-pointers and led all scorers by halftime with 11 points. The Bulldogs led by as many as nine, but Cornell finished the half on an 8-2 run to trim the margin to 34-31 Yale at halftime.