Yale Athletics

Over the weekend, the Yale men’s basketball team (14–6, 7–0 Ivy) posted a 103–88 win over the Cornell Big Red (13–7, 5–2 Ivy) to stretch their lead atop the Ivy League to two games. Halfway through their Ancient Eight schedule, the Bulldogs clearly look like the top team on the court, having now beaten every Ivy team once. 

The game’s story was one of dominant individual performances, with Bez Mbeng ’25 dropping only the second triple-double in program history. Mbeng finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. The defensive star also added five steals and a block to put the finishing touches on his strong stat line. 

“It’s outstanding, what he’s capable of doing,” Head Coach James Jones said to Yale Athletics of Mbeng’s performance. “And that doesn’t talk about what he did on the defensive end, guarding their best player and holding him to 6-for-14.”

Mbeng wasn’t alone in breaking records, as two other Bulldogs also set career highs in points against the Big Red.

John Poulakidas ’25 continued his stellar season with a career-record 32 points, while Nick Townsend ’26 did the same with 25 of his own. 

What separates this season for Poulakidas is his performances outside of the Ivy League, as he has performed at a nationally high level. The lefty sniper currently ranks eighth in the nation in 3-point percentage at 45.38 percent and 10th in points per game at 20.5.

The focus for the Bulldogs needs to remain high as they turn to the second half of their conference season and look to stay on top of the standings. Princeton and Cornell follow Yale in conference standings at 5–2 in Ivy play while Dartmouth holds fourth place at 4–3.

The Bulldogs have a big weekend coming up with a Friday game against Penn before a Saturday night showdown with Princeton.