CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Back-to-back games with Harvard suited Yale just fine.
Jalen Gabbidon scored 19 points and
Matt Knowling added 10 as the Bulldogs knocked off Harvard 62-59 at Lavietes Pavilion. It was the second win in five days for Yale over Harvard.
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"It feels good to win this game," said
James Jones, the Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "It's hard to win on the road."
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For a while, it looked like it might come easily. The Bulldogs built a 32-26 halftime lead and increased the advantage to 14, 44-30, early in the second half. The Crimson, though, slowly chipped away, and Sam Silverstein's three-pointer cut the deficit to 60-57 with 2:26 remaining.
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After a Yale miss, Harvard pulled within one on Mason Forbes' layup wit 57 seconds left.
Bez Mbeng then hit one of two free throws to push the lead back to two, and following a defensive stop,
EJ Jarvis made one-of-two free throws with 12.9 seconds left. Harvard had a chance to tie, but Luka Sakota's three-pointer from the top of the key missed as time expired.
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"We wanted to make them do something they didn't want to do," Gabbidon said of Harvard's final possession. "We were able to contest the shot late and force the miss."
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It was another stellar defensive effort from Gabbidon and his mates. Yale, which leads the Ivy League in field goal percentage defense, held the Crimson to 42.6 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from three-point range.
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The Bulldogs also benefitted from a balanced offensive attack. Mbeng,
Azar Swain and Jarvis all finished with nine points.
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The Bulldogs outrebounded the Crimson 35-30 and now are 10-1 on the season when they outrebound their opponent. Jarvis led the way on the glass with a career-high 11 rebounds, while Mbeng added seven.
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Forbes paced Harvard (11-9, 3-5 Ivy) with 22 points. Noah Kirkwood, the Crimson's leading scorer, was held to nine points, more than eight below his season average.
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The Bulldogs, who beat Harvard 58-55 on Saturday at the John J. Lee Amphitheater, swept the season series from the Crimson for the first time since 2016
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Yale (13-9 overall) has won five straight games and is 7-1 and in first place in the Ivy League.
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Next up is a trip to Columbia on Saturday. Tipoff at Levien Gym is slated for 2 p.m.
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