Yale and Princeton Advance in the Ivy League Tournament Semifinals

By: Ethan Hennessy

Princeton New Jersey

In the first semifinal both teams started clicking on offense halfway through the first half. When #1 seed Yale extended the lead out to nine Cornell rallied back to make it a game at halftime. 34-31 was the score at the break.

Yale jumped back ahead in the second half quickly going up thirteen thanks to quick transition scores. John Poulakidas hit two more three pointers part of his game high 25. The Bulldogs ran away with it in the second half August Mahoney and John Poulakidas combined to shoot 10/13 from behind the arc. It was the three point shooting that led Yale to victory in the first semifinal of the day. 80-60 was the final.

In the second semifinal of the day the two seed and host Princeton played three seed Penn. Princeton took their first lead of the game with 4:51 in the first half, but Penn answered right back with two Jordan Dingle dunks. Penn led 31-30 at halftime. In the second half Princeton and Penn traded leads. In the end Princeton made plays down the stretch and relied on the home crowd to propel them to the win.

Penn coach Steve Donahue siad “We talked about a ten round fight and there are four minute segments. We just didn’t finish the last four minutes”. For Cornell and Penn their respective seasons come to an end. #1 Yale and #2 Princeton will meet tomorrow in the Ivy League Tournament Championship game.