Yale defeats Brown on thrilling buzzer-beater, wins Ivy League title

As the saying goes, this is March. And Sunday’s Ivy League Tournament championship between Brown and Yale proved the Madness is here early.

The two teams went back and forth down the stretch with an NCAA Tournament bid on the line. Brown missed some key free throws down the stretch, and Aaron Cooley committed the Bears’ foul to give with just over six seconds to play. Out of timeouts, Yale went down the court. That’s when Bez Mbeng found Matt Knowling, who hit the point-blank jumper as time expired.

The Bulldogs won the game, and they clinched the Ivy League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in the process.

Yale wins it at the buzzer. The madness has arrived. pic.twitter.com/16PrP4wgzz

— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) March 17, 2024

After the game, Yale coach James Jones explained what that type of game – and ending – meant for his program.

“When I first got in the league, we were not one of the better teams,” Jones said. “And I fought like heck to get an Ivy League tournament. Now that we’re one of the better teams, I don’t like it so much. But I wouldn’t take away this opportunity for our guys, for all the tea and china. It’s just one of these situations where, to experience what they just experienced is something that they’ll never forget.

“The fact that the last basket was scored off an assist on a kid trying to make a play for someone else is just so meaningful to me as a coach.”

Yale entered the game as the No. 2 seed in the Ivy League Tournament with a 21-9 overall record, including an 11-3 mark in conference play. As for Brown, the Bears were the No. 4 seed at 8-6 in Ivy League action and 13-17 overall. They upset No. 1 seed Princeton 90-81 in the semifinals to advance to the title game.

Yale’s path to the championship went through No. 3 seed Cornell, and the Bulldogs came away with the 69-57 win to set up the matchup with Brown. Yale had a 26-22 lead at halftime of Sunday’s game, but Brown battled back and looked like it was ready to steal the bid to March Madness. However, Knowling’s heroics meant Yale was going dancing for the fourth time under Jones and the second time in three years.

After the game, On3’s James Fletcher III updated his Bracketology and projected Yale to be a No. 13 seed in the March Madness field. That would put the Bulldogs in the South Region and set up a matchup against Duke in the opening round.

Yale will find out its fate along with the rest of the Field of 68 during Sunday’s selection show, which starts at 6 p.m. ET on CBS.