LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Yale men's basketball team wrapped up its West Coast trip with a hard-fought 83-80 victory over Loyola Marymount at Gersten Pavilion.
Bez Mbeng scored a career-high 28 points to lead three Bulldogs in double figures.
The Bulldogs, who fell to No. 11 Gonzaga on Friday, are 2-1 on the season, while LMU is 1-1.
TURNING POINT
The game featured 12 ties and 11 lead changes. The final tie was 78-78.
Yassine Gharram then drove to the basket, finished with his left hand and was fouled. He made the free throw to give Yale the lead for good with 1:29 left. The Lions closed back to within one when Dominic Harris made two free throws, but Mbeng's final bucket of the night put the Bulldogs in front by three with nine seconds remaining. LMU had one final chance to tie, but Will Johnston missed a three-pointer in the final seconds.
SCORING LEADERS
Joining Mbeng in doubles figures were
Matt Knowling (16 points) and
John Poulakidas (10 points).
Danny Wolf added nine points, Gharram finished with seven and
August Mahoney scored six.
Harris paced Loyola Marymount with 21 points.
HOT SHOOTING FIRST HALF
Both teams shot well in the opening 20 minutes. The Bulldogs and Lions were each 16-of-30 (53.3 percent) from the field. Yale also was 4-of-6 from three-point range, including a trey from Poulakidas in the final seconds that gave the Bulldogs a 46-43 lead at the break.
REBOUNDING EDGE
Yale had a 34-26 rebounding edge. Wolf pulled down seven boards to lead the way.
QUOTING JONES
"This was a great team win," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "It's really hard to win a west coast road game. The team battled and played Bulldog basketball."
NOTES
• Loyola Marymount was ranked No. 15 in the College Insider Mid Major Preseason top 25 poll. The Bulldogs were No. 9.
• Yale and LMU were playing for the first time.
• The Bulldogs had the lead for nearly 30 minutes in the game.
• Yale outscored the Lions 42-34 in the paint.
WHAT'S NEXT
Yale heads to New Brunswick, Canada, later in the week for the Atlantic Slam Tournament. The Bulldogs play Colgate Friday, Weber State on Saturday and Gardner-Webb on Sunday. All three games are scheduled to be streamed on ESPN+
