NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale's defense has passed just about every test so far this season. The latest came on a snowy Sunday in New Haven, and the results were again impressive. The Bulldogs held Vermont's Anthony Lamb, the reigning America East Player of the Year, in check and earned a 65-52 victory over the defending America East champion Catamounts at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Lamb, who scored 34 points in a victory over Yale last year, tallied 18 but had to work hard for every one of his eight buckets, thanks in large part to the outstanding defense of
Jordan Bruner.
"Jordan did a great job one-on-one at limiting [Lamb's] opportunities," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "[Lamb] had 18 points, but I don't know how many he had when Jordan was in the game."
Lamb finished 8-of-23 from the field and 2-of-12 from three-point range. In last year's win over the Bulldogs, he was 13-of-24 from the field and hit 6-of-11 three-pointers.
"Any time the person I'm guarding catches the ball, I'm not going to be the one to get scored on," said Bruner, who is among the nation's leaders in blocked shots.
And oh by the way, Bruner was pretty impressive on the offensive end as well, finishing with 17 points, nine rebounds and three assists in 32 efficient minutes. Vermont had no answer for Bruner and his frontcourt mate
Paul Atkinson, who scored 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field.
"Paul has been dominating every big he goes against," Bruner said. "We are going to continue to put things on his back. We have a very good frontcourt and we just try to ride that."
Atkinson and Bruner combined for 40 of Yale's 65 points.
Eric Monroe and
Azar Swain each added eight points,
Jalen Gabbidon had four, while
Matthue Cotton (three points) and
August Mahoney (two) contributed off the bench.
Yale, which was coming off two impressive victories in winning the NIT Season Tip-Off Orlando bracket, has won three straight games and four of its last five. The only blemish was a two-point loss at Penn State.
"The last four games we've played really well," Jones said.
Defense has been the catalyst of the Bulldogs' success. Yale limited the Catamounts to just 35.6 percent shooting and outrebounded them 40-32.
The Bulldogs (6-3) scored the first 12 points of the game and had a 21-8 advantage midway through the first half. Vermont pulled to within 29-25 by halftime, but Yale opened the second half with an 8-2 run. The Catamounts never got closer than six the rest of the way.
Yale and Vermont, who both played in the NCAA Tournament a year ago, have been two of the more successful programs in New England in recent years.
"Vermont has been very good, and we feel like we're pretty good in our building," Jones said. "To go out and beat good teams is important. It shows what we are capable of doing, but we are still trying to grow and still trying to get better."
The next opportunity comes on Wednesday when Yale plays at Albany. Tip is slated for 7:30 p.m.
