New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Invitation denied
Yale falls to Princeton in Ivy League title game
PRINCETON, N.J. — Yale owned the No. 1 seed, 10 wins in its last 11 games and a stellar track record against Princeton. But as tournament hosts, it seemed the Tigers were not going to be denied.
Bez Mbeng’s 18 points and six rebounds were not enough as the Bulldogs fell to secondseeded Princeton 74-65 in the Ivy League men’s basketball tournament final on Sunday.
The Bulldogs (21-8), the twotime Ivy League Tournament defending champions, drew within three points in the final three minutes but were unable to overcome a Princeton group with the home crowd on its side.
Yale’s season is not over. As a No. 1 seed that failed to advance to the NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs instead will participate in the National Invitation Tournament. Princeton (21-8) will represent the Ivy League in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.
“They’re not in a great place right now, but they’re a resilient group of young men,” Yale coach James Jones said. “There will be a game on our ledger and I expect them to go out and play it to their fullest.”
With less than four minutes to play and Yale down six, Mbeng, a sophomore guard, drained a 3-pointer and added a tough floater to bring the Bulldogs within 61-58. Mbeng missed a free throw, and junior guard August Mahoney got a chance at a one-and-one but missed the first shot.
Sophomore guard John Poulakidas and Mbeng couldn’t connect on shots in the closing minutes and Princeton was able to salt the game away at the foul line.
Junior forward Matt Knowling, a first-team All-Ivy selection, had 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and five assists. Mahoney, who was named to the all-tournament team, added 13 points.
Yale missed six of its 19 foul shots and gave up 11 offensive rebounds to Princeton. The Tigers also benefited from sever
al offensive foul calls on Yale, as Jones noted.
“I don’t know if one block/charge call went our way the entire evening, so that’s not great,” Jones said. “You would suspect that one of them would’ve gone your way and could’ve changed it. … The officials aren’t Superman. They make mistakes just like everybody else. You have to live with the mistakes that are made.”
Princeton’s Tosan Evbuomwan starred with 21 points, five rebounds and four assists and was named Most Outstanding Player. Matt Allocco scored 15 points, Ryan Langborg had 14 and Caden Pierce went for 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Poulakidas, who scored 30 points in Yale’s last meeting with Princeton, was held to seven points on 2-of-7 shooting while being guarded by the lengthier Evbuomwan and center Keeshawn Kellman most of the day.
“Certainly we want to get John some shots,” Jones said. “They did a really good job at hedging out on the ball screens where they always had two guys on him. So it wasn’t so much the fact that one individual guy was guarding him, it was more their team defense.”
Yale took its first lead of the game at 25-23, as Knowling’s shifty post move capped a 7-0 run with 3:29 left in the half. But Pierce scored the Tigers’ last eight points of the half, including a 3pointer falling away to beat the halftime buzzer and hand Princeton a 3329 advantage.
The Tigers had extended their lead to 52-41 when Knowling made back-toback baskets to spark a 7-1 Yale run. Pierce extinguished that by driving for a dunk, then drawing a crucial offensive foul on Knowling.
Knowling returned this weekend after missing three weeks with an ankle injury. He was asked postgame if he was 100 percent healthy.
“In my head I was, yes,” Knowling said. “I was just trying my best to do what the team needed. That might have been scoring, that might have been facilitating for others and being a leader out there on the court. No matter if I was 100 percent or not, I just wanted to make an impact out there.”
Yale beat fourth-seeded Cornell 80-60 in the semifinal round Saturday, drawing one win away from what would have been the program’s first back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. Now the Bulldogs must cope with a much different feeling than they’ve become accustomed to: disappointment.
“When you see (Princeton’s) celebration and just kind of see the seniors and how much they put into this ... program, it’s definitely tough,” Mahoney said. “As juniors, me and Matt, we’re definitely going to bottle this feeling up and take this to heart. I promise you we’ll be back.”