NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale sure would like to bottle the first nine minutes of Sunday's second half against Hartford. The Bulldogs dominated in every phase, turning a close game into a blowout.

Leading 27-25 at halftime, Yale made nine of its first 14 shots from the field to start the second half and outscored the Hawks 25-7. The Bulldogs then withstood a couple of runs from Hartford to earn an impressive 69-57 victory at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.

"We really shared the ball and got good shots for everybody," said James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball of the second-half run. "It was also the first time we were able to get out in transition."

Justin Sears, who was limited to 11 minutes in the first half after picking up two early fouls, led the way. He scored 12 of his team-high 14 points after the intermission and added 11 rebounds and five blocks. Sears had plenty of support. Jack Montague scored 13 points, Javier Duren had 11 and Matt Townsend contributed 10.

"We just talked about focusing on yourself," Sears said of the halftime discussion. "We also tried to be a little more physical on defense."

Taylor Dyson paced Hartford (5-2) with 13 points, and Yolonzo Moore II added 11.

The loss snapped the Hawks' five-game winning streak.

The Bulldogs (6-2) have won six of their last seven games after opening the season with a double overtime loss to Quinnipiac. The only setback during the stretch was Friday's 72-66 loss to No. 25 Providence.

Yale and Hartford have played a number of close games in recent years, and it appeared this would be another. The first half featured four ties and 10 lead changes.

It changed in a hurry at the beginning of the second half. Sears started it off with a putback of a Townsend miss and then added a jumper. After back-to-back three-pointers from Montague, the Bulldogs were suddenly up 40-25.

Montague's hot start from three-point range continued. He was 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and is shooting 55 percent (22-of-40) for the season.

"I'm sure I'm in [opponents] scouting reports," Montague said of the increased attention he is receiving. "Our energy on defense allowed us to be able to push the ball and get it low. They started to pack it in and that opened things up."

Yale's lead grew to 20, 52-32, when Greg Kelley made two free throws with 10:45 left.

The Hawks pulled within eight on two occasions in the final minutes but never were any closer.

"We got complacent and took our foot off the gas pedal," Jones said.

Still, it was an efficient second half for the Bulldogs, who shot 55 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes and were 18-of-24 (75 percent) from the foul line.

The Bulldogs again got a strong contribution from the bench. Kelley finished with seven points, while Anthony Dallier added seven points and seven rebounds.

Yale outrebounded the Hawks 43-32.

The Bulldogs begin another busy stretch at Bryant on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Bulldogs then play at defending national champion UConn on Friday and are at Final Four participant Florida next Monday.

Report filed by Tim Bennett (timothy.bennett@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity