Sean O'Rourke, Special to the Register

NEW HAVEN — Ivy League powerhouse Cornell was playing for its NCAA tournament seeding as it closed the regular season Saturday night before 2,381 steamy fans at Yale’s Lee Amphitheater.

The Big Red did nothing to hurt that seeding status in the upcoming dance as they pulled away for a 79-59 rout of Yale.

Senior Ryan Wittman scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half and Louis Dale added 18 for the dominant Big Red, who brought a large following, including their cheerleaders and pep band, to New Haven.

Cornell shot a sizzling 62 percent and was 8-for-10 on 3-point attempts in the second half.

“This is a hard place to play,” said Cornell coach Steve Donahue, whose Ivy League champs lost at Yale last season. “We haven’t done well in this building so that was motivation for us.”

Yale senior guard Alex Zampier closed out a stellar career with a game-high 24 points.

The Bulldogs (12-19, 6-8) failed to finish at least .500 in the Ivy standings for the first time since the 1999-00 team went 5-9. Yale lost its most games overall in a season since that 99-00 team went 7-20, Jones’ first season in New Haven.

Yale has also had three straight losing seasons overall and Jones is now 142-168 in 11 seasons. He is the longest tenured coached in the Ivy League.

Cornell (27-4, 13-1) wrapped up its third straight Ivy title and NCAA tournament bid with a win at Brown Friday night. Donahue admitted he worried about his team looking past Yale and toward the NCAA’s. Continued...

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“You always worry about that as a coach,” Donahue said. “But this was an important game to keep the momentum going. It would have been a hard to pill to swallow if we lost tonight heading into the NCAA tournament.”

The Big Red was seeded 14th and shipped to Anaheim, Calif. and Boise, Idaho the past two seasons. Cornell lost in the first round both times (to Missouri last season and Stanford in 2008) but project to be a 10 or 11 seed this year.

“I don’t think that much about seeding but I will say that I think we’re prepared so much better than we’ve ever been with our depth and experience,” Donahue said. “I do hope that the NCAA gives us consideration with a fair place to play and something that is closer to home.”

Cornell set a school record for wins and nearly upset then-No. 1 Kansas at Phog Allen Fieldhouse before falling 71-66 in January and Donahue is certain to be mentioned as a candidate when head coaching jobs become vacant this spring.

The Bulldogs cut the Cornell lead to 46-42 when Austin Morgan made two free throws with 14:03 remaining. The packed house buzzed as Yale had a chance to slice further into the lead after Cornell 7-footer Jeff Foote back-rimmed a dunk attempt. The crowd was ready to roar but instead deflated when Raffi Matilla’s 3-point attempt to cut the lead to one rolled around and out.

Dale scored six of the next eight points for Cornell, including a 3-pointer to pump the lead back to 10 at 54-44 with 11:20 remaining. Yale would fail to get the lead under double digits and the lead swelled to 25 points at 72-47 on a Wittman 3-pointer with 4:26 remaining.

“There was a stretch there that every time we made a mistake they made us pay for it,” Yale coach James Jones said. “They got a 10 or 13 point lead and switched to a 1-3-1 (zone defense) and we didn’t attack it well.”

Yale held Wittman, Cornell’s all-time leading scorer, to just three points on 1-for-8 shooting in the first half but still trailed 36-28. Dame picked up the pace with 10 points and Cornell shot 47 percent from the field.

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