NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale men's basketball team got back to what it does best, and the result was an impressive and much-needed victory.
EJ Jarvis scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had two blocks as the Bulldogs knocked off Harvard 58-54 before a big and boisterous crowd at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Yale (11-5, 1-2 Ivy) bounced back well from Friday's 81-77 loss to Dartmouth. The Bulldogs, who entered the weekend among the national leaders in scoring and field goal percentage defense, were sharp, limiting Harvard to 32.7 percent shooting from the field. The 54 points matched the Crimson's season low.
"We hadn't played Yale Basketball in our first two league games," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "Tonight, we did a really good job with our interior defense which made a huge difference in the game."
Jarvis's defense went a long way in helping to secure the victory. With Harvard trailing by two and under 10 seconds remaining, he blocked Idan Tretout's driving layup and grabbed the rebound.
"Our emphasis today was team defense," Jarvis said. "A guy got beat, everybody shifted over and I was there and made a good play."
Jarvis then sealed the win by hitting a pair of free throws.
"It's a rivalry game. We knew we had to win this game for a bunch of reasons," Jarvis said. "What kid doesn't dream of knocking down two free throws vs. a rival to seal a game."
Matt Knowling also scored in doubles figures for Yale, finishing with 11 points.
Bez Mbeng added seven points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
John Poulakidas and
Isaiah Kelly also each scored seven points, while
August Mahoney had five points and grabbed six rebounds.
Yassine Gharram contributed five rebounds and two assists in 14 minutes off the bench.
Chris Ledlum and Tretout scored 15 points apiece to pace Harvard (10-7, 1-2 Ivy).
The Bulldogs had the lead for more than 35 minutes in the game but couldn't completely shake the Crimson.
Yale's largest lead was 11, 52-41, with 5:44 remaining. Harvard, though, chipped away and cut the deficit to two on Tretout's layup with 25 seconds left, setting up Jarvis' heroics.
The Bulldogs are back in action next Friday when they travel to Cornell. Tip is slated for 5 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU. Yale is then back home on Martin Luther King Day (Jan. 16) to host Brown at 5 p.m.
