Yale Shoots 54.8 Percent In First Half En Route To Scoring 48 Points

NEW YORK, N.Y. - A near flawless first half led the Yale men's basketball team to a surprisingly easy victory on Saturday. The Bulldogs shot 54.8 percent from the field and outrebounded the Lions 23-10 in the first 20 minutes in building a 48-29 lead. From there, Yale cruised to a 79-64 win before a crowd of 1,304 at Levien Gym.

One of the highlights of the first half came when Alex Zampier became the 23rd player in school history to score 1,000 career points.  His milestone basket came on a three-pointer from the wing with two minutes left.

"That's what players work for," said Zampier, who entered the game needing 11 points to reach 1,000. "It's real exciting, and it was great to do it in a win."

The last Yale player to reach the 1,000-point plateau was Ross Morin, who did it in the final weekend last year.

"Alex has had a terrific career. In the over 100 years of basketball at Yale, [only 23 players] have scored 1,000 points. That says a lot about what kind of player Alex is," said James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's basketball at Yale. "His teammates have done a great job getting him the ball."

Zampier finished with a team-high 18 points. Paul Nelson added 13 points and eight rebounds and Greg Mangano had 12 points and 10 rebounds, his third career double-double. Jordan Gibson contributed nine points and Reggie Willhite had six points. In all, 12 players scored for the Bulldogs (9-14, 3-3 Ivy). Yale's bench outscored Columbia's 30-15.

 "We got contributions from everybody," Jones said. "It's hard for us to lose when we get that kind of production from our bench."

Noruwa Agho scored 30 points to pace the Lions (8-12, 2-4 Ivy).

The Bulldogs led by only six, 22-16, midway through the first half but used a 14-5 run to take control. The lead grew to 21 when Zampier made his milestone three-pointer. Yale scored 22 points in the paint and had eight offensive rebounds in the first half.

"We were really clicking on offense," said Zampier, who had 12 of his points in the first 20 minutes. "We were moving the ball really well."

Columbia tried to get back in the game by scoring the first six points of the second half. The Lions pulled within 12, 54-42, on Zack Crimmins' jumper with 12:41 left, but the Bulldogs answered with a 7-1 run.

Yale made 21-of-26 free throws in the second half.

"Our free throw shooting was a big part of the victory," Jones said.

Yale returns home to host Harvard next Friday and Dartmouth on Saturday. Both games begin at 7 p.m.

NOTES: Zampier did not have a steal, leaving him with 157 in his career, which ties him with Daniel Okonkwo for the most in school history. The Bulldogs finished 32-of-38 from the foul line. Yale outrebounded the Lions 46-27. One night after allowing Cornell to make 13 three-pointers, the Bulldogs held Columbia to only two. Agho was 15-of-18 from the free throw line for Columbia. There were 47 fouls called in the game. The Lions committed only four turnovers.

Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity

Video of Alex Zampier scoring his 1,000th career point: