NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale's three seniors sure made the most of their last regular season game in the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Jordan Bruner scored 11 points and grabbed 12 rebounds,
Eric Monroe had nine points and three assists and
Austin Williams, who made his first career start, got it all going by scoring the first basket of the game as the Bulldogs earned an important 66-63 victory over Princeton before a big crowd at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
"When I got out there, I forgot it was Senior Night. You enjoy it before the fact," said Bruner, who added four assists and two blocks. "Me, Eric and Austin all came up to each other [before the game] and said `let's get it done for one last time.' Once the buzzer goes off, it was just game time in the same building we've played in maybe 60 times."
The three also knew the game had Ivy League title ramifications. Yale entered the night in first place, one game ahead of Princeton and Harvard.
"We want to be champions real bad. That's all there is to it," Bruner said. "You can see it on the floor."
And they'll have a chance in the final weekend. The Bulldogs (22-6, 10-2 Ivy) are one game ahead of second-place Harvard with two to play. The Crimson prevented Yale from clinching a share of the title by winning at Cornell on Saturday.
The Bulldogs, who clinched a spot in the Ivy League Tournament with Friday's win over Penn, play at Dartmouth next Friday before meeting the Crimson in the regular season finale on Saturday in Cambridge.
Yale led Princeton 27-26 at the half and quickly built the advantage to 10. The Tigers, though, refused to go away. Two free throws from Drew Friberg pulled Princeton within 62-61 with 1:14 left.
Princeton (13-12, 8-4 Ivy) had a chance to take the lead, but
Paul Atkinson blocked Ryan Schwieger's layup, and just like Friday night, a video review showed the ball went out of bounds off the Tigers.
Atkinson then hit two free throws to push the lead back to three, but Llewellyn's layup pulled Princeton within one with 24 seconds left.
Monroe's two free throws with 11 seconds remaining again made it a three-point game. Princeton got off two three-pointers in the final seconds, including a desperation trey from the baseline as time expired.
It was the second game of the weekend that wasn't decided until the final horn. Yale edged Penn 76-73 on Friday.
"We've been in every type of game [this year]," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "Our guys are battle tested and ready for next weekend and beyond."
Atkinson finished with 18 points to lead Yale.
The Bulldogs swept the Penn-Princeton home weekend for the ninth time in the last 10 years.
Yale also matched its win total (22) from a year ago.
The Tigers also are in the Ivy League Tournament. They clinched a spot with Friday's win at Brown.
