Cornell Athletics Recap of Cornell at Yale

Yale Upsets Men's Basketball, 72-60

CornellBigRed.com

Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- An inspired Yale team outscored the Big Red 40-26 in the second half to walk away with a 72-60 victory over Cornell on Friday evening at the John J. Lee Amphitheater. The loss dropped Cornell to 17-8 (7-2 Ivy), while Yale improved to 10-13 (5-4 Ivy).

Four Yale players reached double figures in scoring to lead the Bulldogs, with Alex Zampier hitting for 15 points while adding four assists and four rebounds. Travis Pinick added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Ross Morin chipped in with 12 points and eight rebounds. Rounding out the double figure scorers was Chris Andrews with 10 points. Yale held a 35-33 edge on the backboards and the Ivy League's worst shooting 3-point team made 42 percent of its efforts from beyond the arc (5-of-12).

Junior Ryan Wittman had 21 points to lead Cornell, while Jeff Foote added 14 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Louis Dale had seven points, seven rebounds and six assists, but was just 3-of-12 from the floor and committed five turnovers. Alex Tyler notched six points, nine rebounds and four assists in the loss. The Big Red made just 38 percent of its shots from the floor in dropping its second league contest in its last four games after winning 19 consecutive Ancient Eight contests.

In a tightly contested second half, the Bulldogs made the last run to pull away, as a four-point game with 5:16 left never got any closer as the home team finished with a 12-4 run to seal the game away.

Cornell led by as many as seven very early in the second half when Reeves hit a trey with 18:14 left in regulation, but a Travis Pinick dunk with 15:08 put the Bulldogs up for good. The Big Red would tie the game at 49-49 with 9:33 left on a jumper by Wittman, but Morin answered with a pair of free throws and the visitors would never get back even the rest of the way.

Yale, with a loud home crowd behind it, led by as many as seven points in the first half, but Wittman's big half sent the Big Red into halftime with a 34-32 edge. The Big Red limited turnovers (four) and took the advantage into the locker room despite being outshot (52 percent to 42 percent) and outrebounded (17-15). Wittman had 14 points, including hitting 4-of-5 shots from beyond the arc. He surpassed former NBA player Matt Maloney of Penn for third all-time in Ivy League history for 3-point field goals made, ending the first 20 minutes with a career total of 246.

While Wittman was the scorer, it was Alex Tyler providing the intangibles. The junior had just one basket, but posted game highs of four assists and six rebounds in 17 energy-packed minutes. Dale chipped in with five points, four rebounds and three assists. Yale got nine points from Chris Andrews and eight from Ross Morin. The Big Red's advantage in second-chance points (8-2) were the difference in taking the lead at the break. Six of those points came on offensive rebounds kicked out to Wittman for treys, and the last came on a Tyler putback with seven seconds to play to put the Big Red into the lead.

After Yale opened the scoring in the second half to knot the game, the Big Red launched a 7-0 run capped by a 3-pointer by Reeves to force a Yale timeout with 18:05 left.

The Big Red will attempt to sweep the season series from Brown when the two teams meet tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Pizzitola Sports Center. Cornell won the first meeting 90-58 on Jan. 30 at Newman Arena behind 23 points, five rebounds and four assists from Louis Dale.