NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale is ready for Ivy Madness. The Bulldogs cruised to a 74-65 victory over Brown in the regular season finale at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Yale (17-11 overall) finishes with an 11-3 Ivy record and will be the No. 2 seed in the Ivy League Tournament next weekend at Harvard. The Bulldogs meet No. 3 Penn on Saturday at 2 p.m. following the No. 1 Princeton vs. No. 4 Cornell game which is an 11 a.m. tip.
Yale will enter with a bunch of positive momentum. The Bulldogs were in control throughout against the Bears. They led for nearly 38 of the 40 minutes, shot 46 percent from the field and had 15 assists on their 27 field goals.
"We played our brand of Yale Basketball," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs.
It was milestone win for Jones, the 350th overall of his career and the 191st Ivy League victory, which moves him past former Penn coach Fran Dunphy into second place all-time in league history.
It was also Senior Night at Lee, and
Azar Swain,
Jalen Gabbidon,
Eze Dike and
Jameel Alausa all played a role in the victory.
Swain, who will graduate as Yale's all-time leader in three-point field goals, finished with 22 points, Gabbidon had nine points and six assists, Dike had four points and was a +18 on the night and Alausa, who has been limited by injury throughout the season, played two inspirational minutes.
"I've never been so happy to see someone check into the game," said Gabbidon of Alausa's appearance.
The emotional pregame ceremony honoring the seniors seemed to inspire the Bulldogs, who raced out to a nine-point lead, 15-6, six minutes into the game. The advantage grew to 16 before Brown used a late run to close within 39-31 at the intermission.
"I was anxious for the game to start," said Swain, who was 8-of-15 from the field. "It was a surreal moment. I felt it all day."
Yale remained in control throughout the second half. The Bears got within five once, but the Bulldogs quickly answered and pushed the lead back to 13.
There were other contributors in addition to the seniors.
Isaiah Kelly scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds,
Bez Mbeng added eight points,
EJ Jarvis had seven points and five rebounds, and
August Mahoney scored five points.
After committing 20 turnovers in each of its last two games, Yale had just seven against the Bears.
Jaylan Gainey scored 20 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to pace the Bears.
The Bulldogs entered the night with a chance to earn a share of the Ivy League championship but needed a Penn victory over Princeton. Instead, the Tigers knocked off the Quakers to secure the outright Ivy title.
In addition to the players, senior manager RJ Kranz and Riley Mack were honored in the ceremony prior to the game. Mack, who will graduate Darien High School later this spring, joined the Yale men's basketball family in 2014 through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation.
