Yale ralled from 21 points down to defeat Columbia on Saturday night. Coupled with Harvard's loss at Princeton, the Bulldogs trail the Crimson by a game in the Ivy League standings.
Here is Yale's game report from Columbia:

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Yale has made a habit of coming from behind throughout the season. The Bulldogs took it to a new level on Saturday.
Reggie Willhite's driving layup with 13 seconds left capped a memorable comeback and lifted Yale to a thrilling 59-58 victory over Columbia before a stunned crowd of 2,442 at Levien Gym.
The Bulldogs (16-6, 6-2 Ivy) trailed by 21 with 11:30 left in the second half.
Willhite finished with 24 points to pace Yale, who moved back within one game of first place Harvard. The Crimson lost to Princeton 70-62.
"Gritty is the only word I can use to describe it," said Willhite, who was 11-of-19 from the field and added five assists and seven steals. "We've shown a lot of resiliency all year. We've had a lot of close games and are battle tested."
Greg Mangano, who was in foul trouble for the second straight night, added 11 points for the Bulldogs. Austin Morgan and Jeremiah Kreisberg both had eight points.
Meiko Lyles led Columbia (14-10, 3-5 Ivy) with 17 points. Mark Cisco scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
It was a Cisco jumper that gave the Lions their biggest lead, 51-30. The advantage was still eight, 58-50, after Lyles hit a three-pointer with 4:20 remaining, but Columbia didn't score again.
Jesse Pritchard's three-pointer pulled the Bulldogs within one with 37 seconds left. Yale's press then forced a Columbia turnover, setting up Willhite's dramatic layup.
"I saw the help side defender turn his head so I just took my man and went to the basket," Willhite said.
Still, Columbia had a chance to win when Blaise Staab was fouled with three seconds remaining. Staab, though, missed both free throws and Mangano grabbed the defensive rebound.
The last second victory came one night after the Bulldogs suffered a heartbreaking 85-84 overtime loss at Cornell.
"Our guys really clamped down and came together," said James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball. "It was an unbelievable comeback."
A number of players had a role in the victory. Pritchard's three-pointer was huge, and freshman Brandon Sherrod scored five points and grabbed six rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench.
"It's the sign of a good team when you have several players making contributions," Jones said. "Greg was a little off, Austin was a little off but other guys stepped up."
Mangano picked up two early fouls, which limited him to only nine first-half minutes. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, Willhite picked up the slack. He was 6-of-9 from the field and had 14 of Yale's 23 first-half points.
"Reggie had a monster game," Jones said.
Yale trailed 30-23 at the intermission.
Morgan, despite shooting only 3-of-9 from the field, hit a number of big shots late, scoring all eight of his points in the last 8:30.
NOTES: The largest deficit the Bulldogs had overcome entering Saturday's game was 13, which they did twice – in wins over Sacred Heart and Rhode Island… The comeback was reminiscent of last year's home win over Cornell when the Bulldogs rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final two minutes... Yale has now won the last six meetings with the Lions… Columbia shot 55.8 percent from the field in the game but committed 19 turnovers… The Lions outrebounded Yale 29-27… The Bulldogs are back on the road next weekend – at Dartmouth on Friday and at Harvard on Saturday. Both games begin at 7 p.m.

YALE AT CORNELL
When: Today at 7 p.m.
Where: Newman Arena, Ithaca, N.Y.
Records: Yale (15-5, 5-1 Ivy); Cornell (8-12, 3-3)
Video: cornellbigred.com
Scouting Yale: The Bulldogs hit the road for another crucial weekend. Yale sits in second place in the Ivy League, a game behind Harvard who plays tough road games this weeked at Penn and Princeton. The Bulldogs have won three straight and are off to their best start since 2006-07. Yale’s defense was the key last weekend limiting both opponents under 40 percent shooting and Greg Mangano averaged 21.5 ppg in a pair of game to earn Ivy Player of the Week honors.
Scouting Cornell: The Big Red are 7-2 at home this season and are always in close games. In its last 18 Division I games, 16 have been decided by single digits. Drew Ferry leads the balanced Cornell scoring at 11.7 ppg and the Big Red feature the top freshman in the league in rugged forward Shonn Miller. Chris Wroblewski recently cracked the 1,000-point mark.
Probable starters
Yale
Name,Ht,Year,Pos,PPg.
Jeremiah Kreisberg,6-10,So.,F,7.6
Greg Mangano,6-10,Sr,C,19.0
Reggie Willhite,6-4,Sr,F,12.3
Austin Morgan,5-10,Jr,G,12.0
Michael Grace,6-0,Jr.,G,6.3
Cornell
Drew Ferry,6-2,Sr.,G,11.7
Chris Wroblewski,6-6,Sr.,G,10.1
Shonn Miller,6-7,Fr.,F,9.5
Jonathan Gray,6-3,Jr.,G,6.9
Eitan Chimerewski,6-8,Fr.,F,6.6

Off the bench: Yale: Brandon Sherrod, 6-6, Fr., F, 3.7; Jesse Pritchard,6-5, So., G, 1.5. Cornell: Dwight Tarwater, 6-6, So., F, 2.9; Galal Cancer, 6-2, Fr., G, 6.6; Josh Figini, 6-9, Jr., F, 5.3.

By Bill Cloutier
Assistant Sports Editor
bcloutier@nhregister.com
NEW HAVEN -- Yale’s loss to Harvard a week ago made this weekend’s games imperative. The Bulldogs’ men’s basketball team had to sweep powerhouses Penn and Princeton if they were to truly contend for an Ivy League crown.
Mission accomplished.

Reggie Willhite and Greg Mangano both scored 20 points and Yale held off a late rally to defeat Princeton 58-54 before 2,175 fans at the Lee Amphitheater Saturday night. The win, Yale’s third straight, moves them to 15-5 overall and 5-1 in the Ivy League. Harvard leads the league at 6-0 and both teams have eight games left.
“It feels amazing,” Yale captain Reggie Willhite said. “Coach told us before the game how Princeton had beaten us five straight times. We knew how important it was to get a Penn-Princeton sweep. It’s always one of the most difficult parts of the season and to win both of them at home feels great.”
Princeton, one of the preseason favorites in the league, fell to 11-10 overall and 2-3 in the Ivy. The Tigers were led by Ian Hummer with 18 points. Mack Darrow had 11 and Patrick Saunders had 10.
Yale was fantastic in the first half. The Bulldogs took a 32-23 lead into the break despite shooting 2-for-10 from 3-point range. The rest of their game, however, was precise led by Willhite, who had 13 points at the break. Yale’s defense held Princeton without a point for nearly 10 minutes.
“We re-geared after Harvard,” Willhite said. “Everybody understood what this weekend meant, myself included, and we played pretty well.”
The Bulldogs opened up the advantage to a dozen early in the second half but it seemed like they wanted to put the game away from the 3-point line. Yale missed five straight shots from long range in a scoreless span of nearly five minutes.
While the stretch didn’t hurt them much on the scoreboard, Jones said the offense went stagnant and Princeton finally began to chip away. Hummer led the charge scoring 10 straight Tiger points and Princeton eventually closed the gap to 53-51 on a putback by Darrow with 1:08 to play.
“I still felt pretty good,” Jones said. “We maintained the lead for the most part. I just felt we took some ill-advised shots but what’s anchored us all weekend was our defense.”
Yale didn’t buckle and Jeremiah Kreisberg made two free throws on the next trip to extend the lead to four. Princeton, which missed several open 3-pointers in the second half, never got closer than three points in the final minute and never had the ball with a chance to tie the game. The Tigers shot 33 percent from the field in the game.
“Our guys did a good job of staying focused and we did all that was necessary to win the game,” Jones said. “We got a little tight in the second half and we stopped trying to win the game and instead tried to manage it.
“We haven’t been in that situation in games, to manage the lead.”
Kreisberg played his best game in weeks for the Bulldogs. The sophomore forward from Berkeley, Calif., scored nine points and two took charges.
“I texted him last night and told him I have great confidence in him and he was going to have a good game today,” Jones said. “He’s been in a little bit of a haze but he got himself out of it. He knows he’s a good player. He just needs to make sure he has the confidence.”
It was the fifth time in Jones’ tenure at Yale that he’s swept the weekend series against Penn and Princeton. The Bulldogs, who are 9-1 at home, now play four straight games on the road capped by a Feb. 18 trip to first-place Harvard.
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NEW HAVEN — A decade ago the Yale men’s basketball team entered its weekend series against Penn and Princeton with a 3-1 mark. The Bulldogs swept the pair of games and went on to share the Ivy League title.
They haven’t won a league crown since.

With the circumstances identical to begin this weekend, Yale scored the final 10 points to defeat Penn 60-53 in a crucial league contest in front of 2,012 at the Lee Amphitheater Friday night.
With the victory, Yale (14-5) improves to 4-1 in league play with another big contest against Princeton on tap tonight.
"This was a huge win," Yale center Greg Mangano said. "After the way we played last week there were a lot of people doubting us, but we know how good we can be. It’s good to have the opportunity to bounce back and prove ourselves."
A week ago Yale made loads of careless turnovers and was hammered by Harvard. While they didn’t clean things up much on Friday night, they won the game with heart.

"The mark of a good team is when you can overcome your mistakes and we were able to do that," Yale coach James Jones said. "There were plenty of them tonight, but we were still able to overcome the bad play with desire."
Mangano led all scorers with 23 points, including a huge 3-pointer that tied the game at 53 with 2:27 to play. Austin Morgan and Michael Grace each added 11 points for the Bulldogs.
Penn was paced by electric guard Zach Rosen, a two-time All-Ivy first-team selection, with 16 points. Rob Belcore added 11 points and six assists for Penn (11-10, 3-1).
The Quakers missed a lot of open shots. Rosen was 0-for-5 from 3-point range and high-scoring forward Tyler Bernardini, who scored 29 points in a game at UCLA earlier in the season, finished with six points on 2-of-13 shooting.
The game was close throughout. Yale broke open a 29-29 halftime score with the first eight points of the second half, but the lead evaporated quickly. Rosen then began to take over and a jumper in the lane gave the Quakers a 53-50 lead with 4:50 to play.
Penn never scored again.
"We wanted to make sure Penn won the game and we didn’t give it to them," Jones said. "We didn’t play well last week and we wanted to learn from that."
After Mangano’s 3, Reggie Willhite picked Rosen’s pocket with just over a minute to play. Willhite’s ensuing layup was blocked from behind but Morgan was there for the rebound. His shot was also blocked, but it was ruled goaltending and Yale took the lead for good.
The Bulldogs put the game away on the free-throw line, but it was an adventure. Brandon Sherrod made the first of a 1-and-1 situation, but missed the second. Mangano got the rebound and he was fouled.
Mangano missed his free throw, but out-raced everyone to the baseline to pull in the long rebound — his 10th of the game — and was fouled again. This time he put the game out of reach, making both free throws.
"I’m very disappointed," Penn coach Jerome Allen said. "Not so much because we lost, but we looked like we didn’t work that hard. I know what it’s going to take to win a title and we didn’t have it tonight."
The same can’t be said for the Bulldogs, who clearly out-worked Penn down the stretch.
"Everyone was singing our praises and saying this weekend was going to be easy for us," Allen said. "I still think we’re a better team and I’m really disappointed to come up short."
Allen said that Mangano made the difference.
"Every time he was open he made the shot, and every time we didn’t box out he got the rebound and scored."
Yale was 7-for-14 from 3-point range in the game. Penn shot 38 percent from the field. Willhite finished with eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Yale's split against Harvard and Dartmouth certainly didn't seal its fate in the Ivy League but it made this weekend very important.
The Bulldogs welcome Penn into town on Friday night and then have to turn around and meet Princeton.
While Princeton also has the quick turnaround, playing Brown the previous night, it frankly isn't as difficult as getting ready to play Penn.
Brown is 1-3 in the league and actually is quite similar to Yale.
The difference between preparing for Penn and Princeton is night and day.
Chatted with Greg Mangano's dad the other day and he said his son is tired.
It certainly hasn't hindered his play but think about Mangano's grueling schedule in the past year.
Twice he went to China, the first time playing exhibitions with his teammates. Then he tried out for the World University Games and earned a spot on Team USA.
You know how hard he had to work to make that team.
Now he's the focal point of opposing defenses every night of the season at Yale.
After the season is over he'll get little time off as you can be sure he'll be headed to every NBA camp he can to get more exposure.

Here is some video of the disappointing night at the Lee Amphitheater as Harvard pounded Yale 65-35.
The 3-pointer in the video hit by Greg Mangano was his 1,000th point of his career.

By Bill Cloutier
Assistant Sports Editor
bcloutier@nhregister.com
NEW HAVEN -- Contrary to popular belief the Ivy League trophy will not be awarded to the winner of Friday night’s Yale-Harvard men’s basketball game.
The teams were picked one-two in the league’s preseason poll and have not disappointed.
Harvard (16-2) gained national recognition after winning an early-season tournament loaded with national powers in the Bahamas and leaping into both national Top 25 polls. The Crimson are currently ranked 23rd in the nation in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll and dropped out of the AP poll after a recent loss at Fordham. Harvard finished in a tie for the Ivy League title last year but lost the league’s title game against Princeton 63-62 in a game also played at the Lee Amphitheater.
Yale (12-4) has won four straight and is 6-0 at home on the season. The Bulldogs racked up 10 wins before the league schedule, the most since the 1991-92 season.
They’re both 2-0 in the league play tied with Penn atop the standings.
Those are the resumes. You already know about the rivalry.
The Bulldogs host the Crimson at the Lee Amphitheater at 7 p.m. The game is a sell-out and has been the talk of the campus for weeks.
“Sure it’s early but it’s Harvard-Yale and that makes it a big game,” said Yale guard Austin Morgan. “The fact that we were both picked to do well in the Ivy League makes it even bigger. It’s always good to have the New Haven community excited about the game.
“I don’t know how many times it’s been a sell-out but we’re excited to be a part of it.”
While the Bulldogs are anxious to play in front of a packed house, Yale coach James Jones isn’t concerned with counting tickets.
“Every Tom, Dick and Harry has called me for a ticket for the game,” he said. "We’ve been sold out for three weeks and I expect the atmosphere to be as good as gets. But I don’t care if we play in front of four people, I’d rather come out with a ‘W’”
Jones has a masters in coach-speak. It’s one-game-at-a-time and a win here doesn’t mean anything if you lose the next night. In the Ivy League that’s the rule, because win or lose, Yale hosts Dartmouth on Saturday and then has to get ready for Penn and Princeton the next night.
But it also can make Friday’s game all the more important. If the Bulldogs can’t beat Harvard at home it will be awfully hard to do so in Cambridge, Mass., in a few of weeks. And there’s always that two-game trip to Princeton and Penn at the end of the season to worry about. Very few teams ever sweep that series. All the games are the same," Jones said. "If we win on Friday and then lose on Saturday we’re in the same place. You want to win all 14 of them and this one is only different because it’s a home game. You want to be in control of your destiny.”
Yale split the season series with Harvard last season with both teams winning nail-biters on their home courts. For the most part the cast of characters is the same. Jones said Harvard is a little deeper than it was last year.
"They don’t have any bad players and by that I mean they don’t play anyone just because you need to spell a guy,” Jones said. “Everybody that they play this year is capable, very good basketball players. At that same time you look at a guy like Christian Webster, who I think is tremendous and Kyle Casey, who is tremendous, and they’re all playing less minutes than they did last year because they have a good group of freshmen.”
Said Morgan: “We have to play as a team. Harvard is good all-around. If we can get the ball inside out, the strength of our team is inside, we’ll be successful.”
While Harvard certainly has a ton of talent Yale will counter with its “Big Three” of Morgan, who is second in the nation in free throw shooting (93.7 percent), defensive wizard Reggie Willhite, and Orange's Greg Mangano, the top post player in the league.
Mangano leads the Ivy in scoring (19.4 ppg), rebounding (10.3 rpg) and blocks (40). After playing with Team USA over the summer in the World University Games in China, he has continued to progress toward the elite big men in the nation.
And what will make Friday night even more special is that Mangano needs just three points to become the 24th player in program history to reach 1,000 for his career.
His presence, along with smooth sophomore Jeremiah Kreisberg is where Jones starts his game-planning.
“Our advantages, like every game, are that we’re better inside than most every team that we play,” Jones said. “Harvard is pretty good inside, too. What I’ve come to understand is that there are players in this country that if you give them the ball on the blocks and expect them to score and you happen to have five or six of them in this game.
“It should be thrilling and fun to watch.”
Said Morgan: “They’re a good team and they’re getting respected because of it. We’re trying to get respect, too. That’s why they play the games, to see who’s better.”
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Video of the Yale-Harvard men's basketball game will be made free to the public by visiting the Yale athletics web site.

Click here for the link.

The game is a sell-out

By Bill Cloutier
Assistant Sports Editor
bcloutier@nhregister.com
There are 17 players on the Yale men’s basketball team, the most coach James Jones has had in his 13 years at the school. And on a 12-4 team brimming with talent escaping the back end of the bench can be extremely difficult.

Jones, however, always keeps an open mind and his eyes even wider. If you can help his team in some way you will get a chance.
Jesse Pritchard got that opportunity on Saturday and he made the most of it. Pritchard, a defensive whiz with a fine jump shot, came off the bench to score nine crucial points, all in the second half, and played stifling defense as Yale knocked off Brown 73-60 to move to 2-0 in the Ivy League.
Pritchard’s success could give Jones and the Bulldogs another wrinkle as they prepare to play rival Harvard (16-2) Friday night at the Lee Amphitheater.
Pritchard, a 6-5 sophomore swingman from Ames, Iowa, admits it was hard to adjust to life as a role player. He plays behind Yale captain Reggie Willhite, who is perhaps the league’s top defensive player and the team’s third-leading scorer. Willhite is a spectacular athlete, one whose talents are seen in leagues like the Big East.
Pritchard spells Willhite when in foul trouble or need of a rest. He’s played in 15 games averaging eight minutes of action. With Willhite saddled with foul trouble throughout Saturday’s game, Pritchard played a season-high 21 minutes and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.
“We’re fortunate to have a veteran team that’s playing really well,” Jones said. “We think a lot about Jesse. He’s played pretty hard at practice. It’s so hard (to get him minutes) because Reggie is such a dominant player it’s hard to take him off the court.”
“(Saturday) was the most minutes he played all year and that’s a credit to him that he was ready. Jesse does it in a different way than Reggie. Jesse’s a better shooter than Reggie and more of a physical defender as opposed to an athletic defender like Reggie is.”
Said Pritchard : “Everyone on the team was a star in high school so adjusting to limited playing time and having to be ready every minute to do your best definitely took some time. Coach always says that you can’t control whether you make a shot or not but you can control how hard you play.
“My goal is whenever I get my name called in to go into the game to play as hard as I can and the rest will take care of itself. It helps that I can play defense and I can help out that way, but I’m also a shooter and when I come in it can be nerve-wracking to come in make a shot.”
But Pritchard doesn’t lack for confidence. On Saturday, his 3-pointer helped give Yale a double-digit lead for the first time in the game.
“My dad used to tell me that basketball is 90 percent confidence and the other 10 percent is confidence,” he said. “You have to believe in yourself and I do but to be able to go in there (against Brown) and help the team out was a big boost. It also gets some confidence in my teammates in what I can do. I think I proved myself and the next time I come in if I’m open they’ll give me the ball and know that I can knock it down.”
Pritchard said that the chemistry on this team is one of the keys to its early-season success.
“You look at our bench and someone scores or if I come in they’re all hoping that I do well,” he said. “We love each other on and off the court. Everyone wants to get off the bench and get some playing time but if we don’t it’s a team win.”
Pritchard played a year of prep basketball at Blair Academy (Warren County, N.J.), the same school that produced NBA stars Luol Deng and Charlie Villanueva. He is excited for Friday’s contest.
“We all expect to win,” he said. “It’s a matter of protecting our homecourt. We don’t like Harvard. We know we’re as good as they are and the way people have been talking about them, I kind of feel disrespected in a way.
“It kind of feels like they’re going to walk away with the (Ivy League title) and there’s a lot of basketball to be played.”
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Yale hosts Harvard on Friday night. The game is a sell-out.
I will have a feature and advance during the week and a gameday capsule.
If you don't have tickets for Friday night's game the Bulldogs play Dartmouth in a classic letdown game on Saturday.
They also host Penn and Princeton the following week so things aren't getting any easier.

Check back soon for my previews of Friday night's contest.

The Yale men's basketball team pulled away from Brown late in the second half to move to 2-0 in the Ivy League.
The win sets up the monstrous game with Harvard on Friday at the Lee Amphitheater.
Greg Mangano scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the win.
Jesse Pritchard came off the bench to provide a big spark. He had nine points and eight rebounds for Yale, which outrebounded Brown 49-31. Austin Morgan had 10 points and five assists.

When I talked to Yale men's squash team captain Ryan Dowd on Friday, he told me the Bulldogs were in for a dogfight with Rochester on Saturday.
The Bulldogs were indeed but pulled out a 5-4 win to knock off the No. 4 team on its homecourt.

Yale should take over the No. 1 spot in the nation when the new poll is released on Monday.

Rochester's Andres Duany defeated junior Kenneth Chan 3-0 at the No. 1 spot, but junior Hywel Robinson (3-2) and junior Richard Dodd (also 3-2) earned tough wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively, to spark the Elis.

Three of the big winners from Yale's streak-busting win over No. 1 Trinity also grabbed victories, as captain Ryan Dowd (3-0), sophomore Neil Martin (3-2) and senior Robby Berner (3-0) won at 5, 6 and 7.

The loss was only the second of Rochester's season (the other came at the hands of Ancient Eight rival Princeton). With the win, Yale moves its record to 9-0.