PRINCETON, N.J. – John Poulakidas tallied a team-high 23 points, and the Yale men's basketball team extended its winning streak to six games with a thrilling 77-70 victory over Princeton on Friday. The Bulldogs improved to 12-6 and remain perfect in Ivy action with a 5-0 record.
Turning Point
After Princeton trimmed the deficit to 24-21 with 9:54 to go in the first half, the Bulldogs responded with five straight points (29-21), highlighted by a three from
Bez Mbeng. Mbeng tallied another three at the buzzer going into halftime to put Yale up 44-34. Yale led for the entirety of the second half and held off a late Princeton run that trimmed the advantage down to five in the final minutes.
Notable Performances
- Poulakidas shot 8-of-14 from the field, 3-of-5 from deep, and grabbed three rebounds.
- Nick Townsend tallied 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, adding five rebounds and three assists.
- Mbeng contributed 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, along with six rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
- Yale shot an impressive 62.1% (18-of-29) overall and 77.8% (7-of-9) from three-point range in the first half.
- The Bulldogs shot 57.4% overall (31-of-54) and 56.3% (9-of-16) from deep.
- The Bulldogs dominated the paint, scoring 40 points compared to Princeton's 18.
- Yale's defense stifled Princeton's Xaivian Lee, holding him to just two points.
- The Bulldogs outrebounded Princeton, 34-30.
Bulldog Notes
- Townsend has tallied double figures in his past 13 games.
- Poulakidas has notched double figures in 14 games this season, including his past four.
- For the 14th time in 18 games, Yale outrebounded its opponent.
- Yale has won nine of the last 13 meetings with Princeton.
Hear from Coach Jones
"I felt really good about the way we played for 35 minutes of that game. Defensively, we were really good; our game kind of got away from us at the end. We were just not really ourselves; we turned the ball over too much but it's a great learning experience for us. I think it will help us going forward, especially playing Cornell next week, who are going to run and press. We haven't been in a situation where we've had to make tough free throws, so all these obstacles are just going to help build our team going forward."
Looking Ahead
The Bulldogs will continue their road swing at Penn on Saturday, Feb. 1. Tip is slated for 6 p.m.
