STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The hot start to the season continues for the Yale men's basketball team.
EJ Jarvis scored 17 points as the Bulldogs earned a hard-fought 77-72 victory over Stony Brook at the Island Federal Arena.
Yale improved to 8-1 on the season, its best start since the 1945-46 team finished 14-1 en route to winning a New England championship.
The Bulldogs had the lead for nearly 38 minutes in the game but could never quite put away the pesky Seawolves. A Jarvis field goal midway through the second half gave Yale its biggest lead of the night, 65-52 midway through the second half. Stony Brook, though, answered with a 13-2 run.
The Bulldogs pushed the lead back to seven, but the Seawolves again rallied, pulling within 72-70 with 1:06 left.
Matt Knowling hit two free throws to increase the advantage back to four, and after Stony Brook cut the deficit to two again,
Bez Mbeng sealed the victory with two free throws with 15 seconds remaining
.
"It was a gutsy performance from our guys to pull it out," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "Our execution down the stretch was pretty good, and when we had to make a play, we made it. We hit our free throws and got some key defensive stops."
Knowling and
John Poulakidas joined Jarvis in double figures with 11 points apiece.
Isaiah Kelly added nine,
Jack Molloy had eight and Mbeng contributed seven.
Tyler Stephenson-Moore paced the Seawolves with 21 points, and Aaron Clarke scored 20.
Yale shot 46 percent from the field, had a 26-16 edge in points in the paint and got 27 points from its bench.
Stony Brook kept the game close by going 11-of-20 from three-point range and 19-of-23 from the foul line.
"Stony Brook played really well. They shot the ball really well," Jones said. "We did a poor job defending a couple of their shooters."
Next up for the Bulldogs is a trip to historic Hinkle Fieldhouse to meet Butler on Tuesday. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on FS1.
