ITHACA, NY – Jake Fiegen hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with one second remaining and Cornell defeated first-place Yale 72-69 on Friday night to stay in the race for the Ivy League postseason.
Cornell entered the day having lost five straight games against Yale, its last win coming on Feb. 23, 2024. That included a 34-point loss to the Bulldogs earlier this season.
With the win, Cornell (13-12) improved to 6-6 in the Ivy League and moved into sole possession of fourth place in the regular-season standings with two games remaining. The top four teams advance to the Ivy Madness tournament, with the winner securing the league's automatic bid to the NCAA.
Fiegen scored 17 points to lead five double-digit scorers for the Big Red and also contributed eight rebounds and four assists. He shot 7 of 12 from the field and 3 of 6 from beyond the arc.
Cooper Noard added 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting and six rebounds. Josh Baldwin was 4 of 5 from the field (3 of 4 from 3) en route to finishing with 13 points.
As a team, Cornell made 14 of 35 three-point shots, nine of them in the first half. The Big Red led by as many as 14 before the Bulldogs battled back to tie the score at 69 on a Nick Townsend layup with seven seconds left.
“We got off to a bad start in three of our last four games and put ourselves in a hole that we had to dig out of,” Yale coach James Jones said. “It's great that the guys were able to fight back and get back into action, but we have to do a better job starting each half.”
Cornell won the rebounding battle 31-28 and outscored Yale 12-3 in second-chance points.
Casey Simmons, Isaac Celiscar and Townsend led the way for the Bulldogs (21-5, 9-3) with 14 points each. The loss snapped Yale's five-game winning streak.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
