The 19-point margin of victory was the smallest in Ivy play for the no. 25 Cornell Big Red, but the formula was the same-aggressive defense, unstoppable low post play from Jeff Foote, and a barrage of three-pointers-as the Big Red defeated the Yale Bulldogs 90-71 at Newman Arena Friday night.

Forward Jon Jaques led Cornell with 17 points in just 15 minutes, and Ryan Wittman, Jeff Foote, and Louis Dale added 15 apiece.

When teams try to take away your strength, “you have to find different ways to score, Jon stepping up, hitting some shots” for Cornell, Wittman said. “Yale's a good team, they play good physical defense.”

Head coach Steve Donahue echoed those sentiments, saying “the balance of our team is what makes us.”

Not among the top scorers was forward Alex Tyler, who was 4-6 off the bench thanks in part to his 4 offensive rebounds, including one that led to a two off the glass while fading away to extend Cornell's lead to 12 with 4 seconds remaining in the first half. Tyler had “a couple critical putbacks” when Yale tried to get back into the game in the first half, Donahue said afterward.

Cornell, who has not trailed at any point in its five Ivy League games, jumped out to a 23-9 lead with 12:08 remaining in the first half and led 32-18 with 7:13 to go before intermission. But Yale cut the lead to four late in the half, thanks in part to a bevy of Cornell fouls and some tough jumpers from the outside. Cornell responded with a 9-0 run, though, and took a 12-point lead to the locker room.

Yale shot 48% from the field for the game even though no Ivy League team had previously shot 40% this year against the Big Red. Cornell, though, did play aggressive man-to-man defense, and Donahue credited the Bulldogs for their relatively high shooting percentage, saying “they made the shots, they made the plays.” He added that “the played as us well as anyone has over the past three years” in terms of guarding.

A barrage of threes, including back-to-back ones by Dale and Jaques four minutes into the second half, and back-to-back treys by Wittman and Dale almost ten minutes later, opened up the game. The Red's starters were all out of the game by the under-4 media timeout, when they led by 25.

Asked afterward about what it's like seeing on television that Cornell is ranked 25th in the nation, Wittman said “that's always pretty cool,” but added that “it doesn't make it any easier” to win. Foote noted that “it's gonna be a little harder, I guess, just because everyone's coming for us.”

Cornell has now won seven straight and 19 consecutive home Ivy League games. The Big Red return to action tomorrow night at 7:00 PM when they take on the Brown Bears. You can hear that game on 93.5 WVBR-FM or online at wvbr.com

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