Yale, John Poulakidas prevail over Cornell, 90-84, earn another invitation to March Madness

Dom Amore, Hartford Courant on Mar 16, 2025

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. — John Poulakidas, Yale’s perimeter marksman, missed seven of his first eight shots in the Ivy League championship game, but with another NCAA appearance on the line, he wasn’t about to stay cool for long.

Poulakidas hit his first seven shots of the second half, finishing with 25 points, to lead the Bulldogs to an 90-84 victory over Cornell at Brown University.

Yale will be playing in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time, the fifth time since 2016 and the the Bulldogs are known nationally for being a tough first-round out. They upset Baylor in 2016 and Auburn last season — Poulakidas scored 28 in last season’s game.

“I was so happy to get going for our team,” Poulakidas said. “I knew if I could get going the flood gates would open for the rest of us and that’s what happened.” The senior guard was named Ivy League tournament MVP.

The popular postseason sweatshirt slogan “Nothing Easy” always seems to apply each year to this four-team Ivy League playoff. Yale steamrolled through the regular season, finishing 13-1, but won a right one against Princeton in the semifinal and nearly lost control of this one after building a 16-point lead.

Senior Guy Ragland Jr. from Northwest Catholic-West Hartford, nearly erased that lead himself with a second-half surge, and finished the game with 16 points, but Yale steadied. Sturdy center Nick Townsend scored 19, and point guard Bez Mbeng 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the Bulldogs (22-7), who were awaiting their tournament assignment.

AK Obereke scored 16 before fouling out for Cornell.

Both teams started with elimination-game jitters, but Cornell edged out to an 18-7 lead, Ragland, a big man who could hit from outside, scoring five early points. The Big Red were outmuscling Yale, but coach James Jones went to a smaller, quicker lineup and it turned the pace in the Bulldogs favor, and they came back to tie it at 20 on Casey Simmons’ layup.

Yale was struggling from the perimeter, especially top scorer Poulakidas, but they settled in and took control of the game with a 12-0 run late in the half, Mbeng hitting a couple of 3s, building the lead out to 37-28 lead on Trevor Mullin’s jumper. The Bulldogs took a 37-32 lead into the half.

Poulakidas heated up early in the second half, hitting a pair of 3s and a mid-range jumper, and Yale raced out to a 50-34 lead with 15:35 to go. He scored 13 points in the first nine minutes of the half.

But a technical on Yale’s Simmons seemed to give Cornell a spark, and its perimeter shots began to fall, and they cut nine points off the lead, pulling to within 57-50 on Nazir Williams’ step-back 3 with 11:10 remaining. Ragland got red hot, hitting a three 3s as the Big Red pulled within two.

Poulakidas hit his seventh shot in a row to help put Yale back on top by eight, and the Bulldogs regained their handle on another title, making the free throws to the finish.

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