NEW YORK, N.Y. – Yale showed off its depth in Saturday's 84-59 victory at Columbia. Four Bulldogs scored in double figures, and Yale got contributions up and down the roster in winning its sixth straight game.
The Bulldogs (14-9) improved to 8-1 in Ivy play and sit atop the league standings.
Matt Knowling scored a career-high 19 points,
Azar Swain added 17 and
John Poulakidas and
EJ Jarvis each had 10 points.
Bez Mbeng and
Jalen Gabbidon contributed six assists apiece.
"We have a lot of options," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs.
Yale was strong at both ends of the floor, shooting 63 percent from the field, while limiting Columbia to 42.1 percent
The Bulldogs used a 16-8 run over the final 6:30 of the first half to take a 39-30 lead at the break.
The Lions scored the first seven points of the second half, but from there it was all Yale. The Bulldogs outscored Columbia 45-22 the rest of the way. Yale shot 17-of-23 (73,9 percent) from the field over the final 20 minutes.
"Every game has meaning, and we've been focusing on playing together," said Knowling, who was 9-of-12 from the field.
That showed in the assist category as Yale had assists on 20 of its 34 field goals.
Next up is an important home weekend. The Bulldogs host second-place Penn (8-2) next Friday and third-place Princeton (7-2) on Saturday. Both games are 7 p.m. tips at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
