Isaiah Gray scored a career-high 18 points, including a pair of clinching free throws with three seconds to play, to help Cornell claim sole possession of first place in the Ivy League with a 65-62 victory over Yale on Friday evening at a packed Newman Arena.
The Big Red improved to 20-4 (9-1 Ivy) and clinched its third consecutive bid to Ivy Madness, while the Bulldogs slipped to 17-8 (8-2 Ivy) to drop a game behind Cornell and into a tie with Princeton for second place.
Gray made 5-of-9 shots from the floor and 8-of-11 from the charity stripe while adding five rebounds to lead three double figure scorers in a virtual rock fight for the second time in two weeks against the Bulldogs. This time the Big Red defense (holding Yale to 39 percent shooting overall and 28 percent from 3-point range) made the difference. Nazir WIlliams added 14 points and eight rebounds and Chris Manon scored 11 points with three blocked shots and two steals. AK Okereke scored nine with four boards and both Sean Hansen and Guy Ragland Jr. posted six rebounds apiece.
Yale’s August Mahoney had a team-best 16 poionts, while Matt kNowling posted 15 points and 12 rebounds for the double-double. Bez Mbeng notched 12 points with four assists and three rebounds in the loss. Yale couldn’t overcome an 11-of-26 performance from the free-throw line.
NEXT UP
• The Big Red will celebrate its seven seniors when it plays its final regular season home game of the 2023-24 season when it welcomes Brown to Newman Arena on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
• Cornell will be out for a season sweep of the Bears following an 84-83 victory on Jan. 20 .
• The two teams have split the past eight meetings right down the middle (4-4).
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