Tim Tai, Staff Photographer

BOSTON — At halftime, No. 2 Yale ​​(18–11, 11–3 Ivy) holds a seven-point lead on No. 1 Princeton (23–5, 12–2) in the Ivy Madness championship.

Eight different Yale players scored in the first, and the Bulldogs were led by eight points from guard Azar Swai ’22 and seven from guard Bez Mbeng ’25, who also added six rebounds. Princeton forward Tosan Evbuomwan leads the Tigers with eight points, while guard Jaelin Llewellyn scored seven, though the two combined to shoot just six-of-15.

Mbeng, who played two of his best games against the Tigers during the regular season, started strong in Boston. His three-pointer at the top of the key pushed the Elis forward 7–4, and they led 11–6 after Mbeng stripped the ball from Princeton guard Jaelin Llewellyn in the backcourt and raced down the court for a fastbreak layup.

Princeton, the league’s top three-point shooting squad, missed its first four attempts from deep on Sunday afternoon before a triple from Tigers guard Matt Allocco fell with about 13 minutes to go. Yale led 16–10 at the under-twelve media timeout.

Princeton fans outnumbered the Yale supporters in attendance, though fans were vocal from the opening minutes. Yale fans sitting in section one behind the Bulldogs’ bench joined players in cheering “de-fense, de-fense” when Princeton had the ball. 

Defense was Yale’s defining characteristic in the first half, as the Bulldogs backed up the defensive analytics that gave them the league’s strongest heading into Ivy Madness. After the first 12 minutes, Princeton was six-of-19 from the field and had made just one of its eight three-point attempts. The Tigers ended the half shooting 31.3 percent from the field and 20 percent from three-point range. Forward Isaiah Kelly ’23 delivered two emphatic blocks and forward EJ Jarvis ’23 swatted Llewellyn later in the half to add some energy to the statistics.

Yale crashed the defensive glass hard and outrebounded the Tigers 22–15 in the first. Swain had five of his own in the first half.

A strong take from Swain on Llewellyn gave the Bulldogs a double digit lead, 24–14, with 7:36 to go in the half. Princeton regained ground, scoring six straight — an Evbuomwan and-one and a three-point snipe from forward Drew Friberg — before Yale called timeout three minutes later.

With less than 10 seconds left in the half, Yale captain and guard Jalen Gabbidon ’22 sank a baseline jumper off an inbounds play with time expiring. Referees reviewed the shot — their second official review of the half — but the basket stood. 

The winner receives the Ivy League’s automatic bid to March Madness.