BOULDER, Colo. – The Yale men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season, but the Bulldogs sure didn't go down without a fight. Yale took Pac-12 Colorado to the final seconds before dropping a hard-fought 65-62 decision to the Buffaloes before a nervous crowd of 5,780 at the CU Events Center.
Trailing 38-28 at halftime, Yale nearly came all the way back. A
Bez Mbeng layup with 1:05 left pulled the Bulldogs within one, 61-60. After a Colorado miss, Yale had the ball with a chance to take the lead but couldn't capitalize.
Julian Hammond III made three free throws, and former Bulldog Jalen Gabbidon hit two in the final 12 seconds to seal the victory for the Buffaloes, who have top-25 wins over Tennessee and Texas A&M on their resume this season.
"We did a great job in the second half of battling and fighting," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "We had the ball with 12 seconds left on the clock with a chance to win the game, but we turned it over. We're a young team, those things happen, and we'll try and learn from them."
Nevertheless, it was a very strong effort from a Yale team that had won its first six games of the season for the first time since 1945-46.
John Poulakidas had a big game for the Bulldogs. He finished 6-of-8 from three-point range and scored a career-high 22 points. His shooting from deep helped keep Yale in the game in the first half.
"John's a heck of a player," Jones said. "He's somebody that can certainly heat up, and we have some other guys on our team like that. Tonight was his turn."
Matt Knowling added 16 points for the Bulldogs. He was 8-of-11 from the field.
EJ Jarvis scored nine points, and
Isaiah Kelly contributed six points and six rebounds. Mbeng had a team-high eight rebounds.
Yale outscored Colorado 34-27 in the second half, shooting 55.6 percent (15-of-27) from the field, while limiting CU to 39.1 percent.
"We beat a really, really good program, a team that's really well coached," said Colorado head coach Tad Boyle. "I've got such respect for
James Jones and for what he's done with that program in 24 years. Obviously, Yale is lucky to have him. We were fortunate to win this game because we knew Yale, they've gone to three of the last four NCAA Tournaments."
The Bulldogs were facing an old friend in Gabbidon, a two-year captain of the Bulldogs who after graduating from Yale last May is using his final year of eligibility to play for Colorado as a graduate student. He started the game, grabbed five rebounds and had two steals in addition to the two late free throws.
"It was great to go up against him," Jones said. I know there was some trash talking going on back and forth but that's just fun and what makes college basketball great."
The Bulldogs are back in the friendly confines of Lee Amphitheater on Wednesday, hosting Howard. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.
