SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Yale is the preseason favorite in the Ivy League. It seems the Bulldogs would fare pretty well in the West Coast Conference as well.
Danny Wolf scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as Yale knocked off Santa Clara 66-58 at the Leavey Center, its second win over a WCC opponent this season.
The Bulldogs defeated Loyola Marymount 83-80 in Los Angeles back on Nov. 12. Yale also was competitive with WCC power Gonzaga, falling 86-71 on Nov. 10 in a game that was closer than the final score indicated.
KEY STAT
Defense sparked the victory over Santa Clara, which led the WCC in three-point field goal percentage and was in the top-25 nationally entering the game. The Bulldogs held the Broncos to 37 percent shooting from the field overall and just 28 percent from three-point range, well below their season average.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Four Bulldogs finished in double figures in scoring. Joining Wolf were
John Poulakidas (14 points),
Bez Mbeng (11 points) and
August Mahoney (12). Mbeng added six assists, while Poulakidas contributed seven rebounds.
Casey Simmons had four points, three rebounds and two steals off the bench.
TURNING POINT
The game was tied at 21 midway through the first half, but the Bulldogs outscored Santa Clara 12-4 over the final 5:42 to take a 33-25 halftime lead. Yale then used a 13-7 run over the first seven minutes of the second half to increase the advantage to 14. The Broncos never got closer than five the rest of the way.
QUOTING JONES
"Any time you are on the road it's really tough, but our guys stuck together," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "I feel us being able to galvanize a little bit, which is important going forward.
"Defensively, we just locked in. They average 80 points per game. A lot of their offense is similar to what we do, so we guard it every day. Our ability to guard them on the perimeter and rebound was very important."
NOTES:
• Wolf's double-double was his fourth of the season. He scored in double figures for the 11th straight game and had 20 points or more for the fourth time.
• Yale had the lead for more than 35 of the game's 40 minutes. Santa Clara had the lead for just 17 seconds.
• The Bulldogs outrebounded the Broncos 45-43.
• Both of Yale's WCC victories were over teams picked to finish in the top five in the league's preseason media poll – Loyola Marymount (4) and Santa Clara (5).
• The Bulldogs are now 3-0 all-time against Santa Clara. Yale beat the Broncos 90-84 in overtime in 2004 and 86-67 in the championship game of the 1955 Orange Bowl Classic in Miami.
WHAT'S NEXT
Yale's post-holiday road trip moves to Washington, D.C., where the Bulldogs face Howard on Jan. 3 in a 4 p.m. tip. That is the final non-conference game of the season. Yale's Ivy opener is Jan. 9 at Brown.
