NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale will have the opportunity to defend its Ivy League Tournament title. The Bulldogs clinched a spot in IvyMadness with a 76-73 victory over Penn at the John J. Lee Amphitheater. How they did it will be talked about for years to come.
Yale scored the final 13 points over the last 1 minute, 38 seconds to overcome a 10-point deficit. During the run, the Bulldogs forced six turnovers.
"Our guys really had a lot of energy, and you could tell they really wanted to win, and they believed that they could. Those are the two elements you have to have to stage a comeback like we did." said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "
Jalen Gabbidon was all over the place, deflections, guys diving on the ground for loose balls. We had to create havoc, and we did."
Gabbidon's two free throws with 1:38 left started the comeback. After Penn missed a free throw,
Eric Monroe's three-pointer cut the deficit to five, 73-68, with 1:20 left. Yale forced two more turnovers before
Paul Atkinson's layup made it 73-70 with 55 seconds left.
Jordan Bruner then hit two free throws to pull the Bulldogs within one.
That's when Monroe made perhaps the biggest play of the night, blocking an AJ Brodeur layup with 35 seconds left. After a video review, it was ruled the ball went out of bounds off Brodeur. It was only the 11th block of Monroe's career.
"I'm not a shot blocker. When I saw the ball go over my head, it was desperation mode," Monroe said. "I just had to try and make a play."
Yale, though, still had work to do. Atkinson missed a shot at the other end, but the Bulldogs forced another turnover when Bruner took the ball away from Ryan Betley in front of the Penn basket. Bruner's dunk gave Yale the lead, 74-73 with 13 seconds left and sent the near capacity crowd at Lee Amphitheater into a frenzy.
The Bulldogs then forced one more turnover, which led to a Gabbidon breakaway dunk with five seconds remaining.
Betley's desperation three-pointer at the buzzer missed, and Yale's celebration began.
Atkinson finished with 18 points and six rebounds to pace the Bulldogs. Bruner added 15 points, six rebounds and six assists. Monroe had 12 points, while Gabbidon contributed nine points, six rebounds and five steals.
AJ Brodeur led Penn with 25 points, five rebounds, seven assists and three blocks.
The victory keeps the Bulldogs (21-6, 9-2 Ivy) one game ahead of Harvard and Princeton in the league standings. Yale can clinch at least a share of the regular season title with a victory over Princeton on Saturday, coupled with a Harvard loss at Cornell.
Yale and Princeton tipoff at 7 p.m. at Lee Amphitheater.
