NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Cornell men's basketball team took defending Ivy champ's best shot over and over until the Bulldogs pulled away in the final minutes for an 86-71 win on Saturday evening at the John J. Lee Amphitheater. Yale remained unbeaten in Ivy play (4-0) and improved to 16-4, while the Big Red fell to 4-13 (1-3 Ivy) with the loss.

Jimmy Boeheim led four double figure scorers with 17 points along with four rebounds and four assists to lead Cornell. The Big Red hits 13-of-27 from 3-point range in the loss, with Bryan Knapp connecting on 3-for-3 for 11 points. Josh Warren chipped in 14 points and Dean Noll added 13. 

Yale shot 56 percent from the floor overall with Azar Swain (25 points) and Paul Atkinson (24 points, 11 rebounds) led the way for the Bulldogs, while Jordan Bruner had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Jaylen Gabbidon notched 12. Yale held a dominant 38-14 edge in points in the paint, outrebounded Cornell 37-21 and shots a dominant 67 percent in the game's final 20 minutes to claim its sixth straight win.
 

First Half

• Yale scored the game's first seven points and never trailed, but the Big Red hung around the entire first half.
• The Bulldogs' lead grew to 12 twice in the first half, the last time at 37-25 with six minutes to play, but the Big Red trailed just 42-39 at the halftime horn.
• The 11-4 run over the final 5:06 was sparked by Noll, who scored eight points and assisted on a bucket during the spurt.
• Trailing by just three with just under two minutes to play in the half, the Cornell defense got a stop, but Yale pulled down two offensive boards and eventually hit two free throws.
• A backdoor layup by Noll on a feed from Warren cut the Cornell deficit to three at the break.
• Cornell hit 7-of-14 shots from beyond the 3-point arc in the first 20 minutes, but that was bested by Yale's 7-of-11 shooting from 3-point range.
• Swain was Yale's difference maker, scoring 17 first half points and hitting 4-of-5 treys.
• Noll led Cornell with 11 points and three boards in 11 minutes off the bench.
 

Second Half

• After getting within two (44-42) on a Warren trey less than a minute into the second half, the Big Red saw Yale go on a 16-7 Yale run that widened the gap back to double figures.
• A 3-pointer by Boeheim and another by Warren allowed Cornell to scratch back within five 64-59 midway through the second half.
• It was an eight-point game with four minutes to play after Boeheim hit a driving layup, but the Bulldogs took advantage of late pressure defense by the Big Red for a pair of dunks and a wide open 3-pointer by Swain to seal the deal.
• Cornell was 6-of-13 from behind the 3-point line, but it was a 26-6 edge in the paint by the Bulldogs that proved to be the difference.

 

Next Up

• The Cornell men's basketball team will welcome home members of the 1988 Ivy Championship team to Ithaca when it hosts Princeton on Friday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• Princeton leads the all-time series 148-81 and has won 13 of the last 15 meetings between the programs.
• The Tigers swept last season's contests with a pair of nine-point wins, 70-61 in Ithaca and 68-59 in New Jersey.