Here is my recap of Yale's Ivy League men's basketball season-opening loss at Brown.
The two teams play again this Saturday at New Haven.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — After struggling offensively at the beginning of the season, the Yale men’s basketball team seemed to have things straightened out heading into Saturday’s Ivy League opener.
Not so fast.
Sean McGonagill led four Brown players in double figures with 20 points and the Bears cruised to a 65-51 win at the Pizzitola Center. The Bulldogs, who scored just 35 points in their second game of the season and only 47 in a game a week later, looked like they were back to square one. Greg Kelley led Yale (6-12) with 11 points and no one else scored in double figures for the Bulldogs, who shot just 33 percent for the game.
“(The offense) was stale and stagnant. Not enough energy,” Yale coach James Jones said. “We didn’t do a good job of moving. When you don’t move and you don’t set good screens you don’t run a good offense. We had tough shots all night and it’s hard to make tough shots.
Yale entered the game averaging 77 points over its last seven contests and twice topped 100 in the stretch. But nothing worked on Saturday.
“I’m extremely disappointed with our offense,” Jones said. “Brown packs it in on defense, so it wasn’t like they were denying us. We just failed to have enough energy to play the way we should.”
The most telling stat of all in Saturday’s debacle was that Yale didn’t record an assist for the game’s first 28 minutes, finishing with just four.
“It’s always tough to win a game when you don’t have an assist,” Yale senior guard Austin Morgan said. “We have to work on spreading the court and trying to look for each other. Ivy League basketball is different. You have to execute at a much higher level when the league starts.

“We were ready, but this is not what we envisioned.”
Yale’s offensive woes were so bad in the beginning of the second half that Jones could barely watch. He strolled to the end of the bench, then stood off the court with his arms folded in disbelief.
“I thought our guys came out a little tight,” Jones said. “One of the things about playing so many games on the road, you’d figure that our guys would have experienced it.”
Brown got 13 points from Matt Sullivan and 11 from Stephen Albrecht in beating Yale for the first time in the last six meetings.
“This is big for us,” McGonagill said. “It’s always huge to start the Ivy League with a win and we haven’t done that, so that made this game very important.”
Yale led only in the game’s opening minutes. Then Jones went to his second unit and they were outscored 11-4 as the Bears took a 17-13 lead. Brown never trailed again.
The Bears took a 33-24 lead into the half and then opened up a 21-point lead with 14:25 left to play. That’s the only time the Bulldogs showed some life. Kelley scored seven straight points in a 14-0 Yale run to cut the deficit to 49-42 with 9:50 to play.
But Yale couldn’t get the ball inbounds on its next possession and McGonagill ended the comeback bid with a difficult, fade-away 3-pointer in front of the Brown bench.
“You’re not going to hold them scoreless forever,” Jones said. “You want to make sure you can weather the storm and we didn’t do that.”
“That was a turning point in the game,” Morgan said. “He’s a great shooter and that was the biggest play of the game.”
Said Brown coach Mike Martin: “I expect that from Sean. He’s one of, if not the best guard in the league. I have all the faith in the world in McGonagill.”
Yale never got closer than eight the rest of the way and Albrecht put the game out of reach with back-to-back 3-pointers soon after. Brown hit 8 of 20 from beyond the arc while Yale finished 4-for-22.
The two teams meet again next week at the Lee Amphitheater. Brown, which has finished near the bottom of the league for the past several years, seems poised for a better finish. The Bears (7-8) have won three straight and beat Providence earlier in the season.

MEN'S BASKETBALL GAMEDAYS


QUINNIPIAC AT ROBERT MORRIS

Where: Sewall Center, Moon Township, Pa.

When: Today, 7 p.m.

Records: Quinnipiac (6-11, 2-3 Northeast Conference); Robert Morris (11-7, 3-2)

Radio: WQUN-1220 AM

Internet: www.QuinnipiacBobcats.com

Video: NEC Front Row

What to look for

Scouting Quinnipiac: The Bobcats' snapped a three-game slide with an overtime win at St. Francis (Pa.) on Thursday. Despite needing the extra session to knock off the Red Flash, who entered the game just 1-15, the win was desperately needed. Ike Azotam led all scorers with 22 points as the Bobcats played without starters Dave Johnson and Garvey Young. Saint Francis forced the overtime period with a 6-0 run in the final two minutes of regulation; but Quinnipiac was quick to answer in overtime. Zaid Hearst collected the first two points and the Bobcats went on a 14-4 run over the next four minutes of play. Quinnipiac's defense was terrific, holding SFU to just one field goal (1-6) in the added five minutes.

Scouting Robert Morris: The Colonials defeated Sacred Heart 66-62 on Thursday despite playing without two of its top scorers Velton Jones and Karvel Anderson due to injury. One of the conference's preseason favorites, RMU has won three straight after opening the NEC campaign with losses at Central Connecticut and Bryant. Jones suffered a head injury on a flagrant foul in last week's game at Monmouth and is questionable. Mike McFadden and Lucky Jones both scored 15 in Thursday's win.

YALE AT BROWN

Where: Pizzitola Center, Providence, R.I.

When: Today, 7 p.m.

Records: Yale 6-11, Brown 4-9

Video: brownbears.com

What to look for

Scouting Brown: The Bears (6-8) are playing well under the direction of fi rst-year head coach Mike Martin. Brown has won two straight and three of its last five, including wins over Providence and Niagara. The Bears feature the Ivy League's top two rebounders in Rafael Maia (8.4 rpg.) and Cedric Kuakumensah (8.1 rpg.) and two of the top four scorers - Matthew Sullivan (3rd, 15.0 ppg.) and Sean McGonagill (4th, 14.6 ppg.). Brown is second in the league in field goal percentage defense (.420).

Scouting Yale: The Bulldogs open the Ivy League schedule winners of two of their last three games. The Bulldogs have finished fourth or better in the Ivy League in each of the last 12 years. That didn't earn Yale much respect in the preseason Ivy League media poll, which projected a sixth-place finish for the Bulldogs. Yale, though, has a history of proving the prognosticators wrong. In five of the last seven years, the Bulldogs have finished higher than projected.

-- Bill Cloutier

There was a distinct sense of disappointment by Yale men’s basketball coach James Jones as the NBA draft progressed on Thursday night.

Although Bulldogs star center Greg Mangano was a bit of a long shot to get drafted, when Jones saw the end of the second round progress — loaded with post players, most of whom were foreigners or deemed projects — Jones wondered why his guy wasn’t selected.

Yale basketball player sets sights on NBA: wtnh.com

“I really felt that Greg was just as good if not better than a lot of the players picked (at the end of the second round),” Jones said.

Of the final 13 picks in the draft, NBA teams opted for seven foreign players, using their method called “draft and stash” where they select a player and then let him play overseas for a couple of years and hope they mature into the next Dirk Nowitzki. Most of them are very raw skill-wise.

Mangano worked out for several teams and Jones said the 6-foot-10 shot-blocker from Orange will most likely hook up with a team in the NBA Summer League. Then it will be up to Mangano to see if he gets a good deal overseas or plays in the NBA Developmental League.

Yale’s Reggie Willhite may also go that route. Jones said Willhite is cut from the same cloth as Oklahoma City’s Thabo Sefolosha. “He’s working to show teams that his jump shot is there and he’s already a great defender,” Jones said.

Penn's Zach Rosen

Another Ivy Leaguer who did not get selected in the draft was Penn’s Zach Rosen.

“He was the best point guard we’ve played against in several years,” Jones said. “I’m sure he has pro aspirations, but I don’t know what his plans are.”

It looks like Jeremy Lin’s success did little to quell any Ivy League stigmas that may exist. But after watching that trio play for four years, I believe Mangano would have been the starting center at UConn (and Andre Drummond was drafted ninth), Reggie Willhite is one of the best ball defenders I’ve ever seen and Rosen will not only play in the NBA one day, but he will make an impact.

‰Congratulations to former Cheshire Academy star Johannah Leedham, who will be on the Great Britain women’s basketball Olympic team.

In a story I wrote about Leedham and her sister while the two were playing together in high school, I quoted their former coach as saying Hartford coach Jen Rizzotti watched them play on one occasion with great interest.

Rizzotti refuted that fact, saying she had never seen them. I then emailed Rizzotti to tell her that if she in fact hadn’t seen Johannah Leedham play, then she should hurry down and check her out. I don’t know if she ever did, but somehow both of the Leedhams ended up at Franklin Pierce where Johannah became the best Division II player in the country.

Now she’s an Olympian. Someone missed the boat.

As for Cheshire Academy, I sent my son there last year and it was an awesome experience.

‰After a thrilling Stanley Cup finals, it is disheartening to hear the NHL is once again facing labor issues. Then I learned that Donald Fehr is the new chief of the players’ association.

All I can say is, “Uh, oh.”

‰Earlier in the week the college football hierarchy announced that in 2014 there will be a four-team playoff system to determine the national champion.

A day later they announced Alabama and USC were already two of the finalists.

‰The very first inning the day after Kevin Youkilis was traded from the Red Sox to the White Sox, Will Middlebrooks booted a ball and the fans greeted him with jeers of: “Youuukk.”

Of course Boston had to find a way to get Middlebrooks into its lineup daily, but bringing back a utility player with less ability than Nick Punto and a 25-year-old pitcher who had already been traded four times was not the way to go about it.

Boston should have held onto Youkilis until close to the trade deadline and then unloaded him. The White Sox were already desperate and the way players have been dropping lately, you could have guaranteed the Red Sox would have gotten a better deal. And if they hadn’t, it wouldn’t have cost them anything extra as they’re already paying most of Youkilis’ remaining contract.

It just exemplifies what a dismal start Ben Cherington is off to since taking over for Theo Epstein. First he botched the Epstein compensation pact and then he picked up Marlon Byrd, who has since been released and found to have been using performance-enhancing drugs.

In baseball terms, Youkilis is already his third strike.

‰One of the most popular reality shows on cable TV is “Storage Wars,” where a group of businessmen and collectors buy abandoned storage units from facilities on the West Coast.

Whether those TV auctions are staged or not is anyone’s guess, but such auctions are fairly common. You can go online to get a schedule of auctions in every state in New England. There were over 30 auctions in Connecticut in June alone.

Get ready. Yuuup.

‰The phantom catch by the Yankees’ Dewayne Wise on Tuesday night just reemphasized the need for instant replay in baseball. Wise made a gallant effort leaping into the stands in foul territory trying to snare a pop-up hit by Cleveland’s Jack Hannahan.

Replays showed the ball clearly bounced out of his glove, but umpire Mike DiMuro ruled that Wise caught it without ever asking the outfielder to show him the baseball. DiMuro later admitted he made a mistake, although Yankee radio announcers John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman still contend it was one of the greatest catches they ever saw. (What game does Sterling watch?)

The most absurd view of the play, however, had to come from former Cincinnati Reds general manager Jim Bowden. He said Wise should have fessed up to dropping the ball in the name of sportsmanship and told the umpire to rule it a foul ball.

No wonder the Reds haven’t been any good in decades.

‰I find it hard to believe the PGA is considering banning long putters on the tour. Webb Simpson won the U.S. Open using a long putter. Keegan Bradley used it to win the PGA Championship.

When I took up the game of golf I found that the hardest thing to do was to snap a 3-iron out of the rough and try to get it to the green 180 yards away. Now, all you have to do is drop a hybrid on the ball and you’re there.

The premise of the complaint against the long putters is that when the putter is anchored against the belly, it is a third contact point with the body, thus giving it more control.

I don’t buy it. First ban titanium and oversized drivers and then we’ll worry about putters.

Bill Cloutier can be reached at bcloutier@nhregister.com. Follow Bill on Twitter @BillCloutier. To receive breaking news first, simply text the word nhsports to 22700. *Msg & Data Rates May Apply.

Yale coach James Jones has been pushing for a postseason tournament in the Ivy League for some time now. Now he thinks the league is seriously debating the idea. Currently the Ivy League has only one postseason tournament, that being in men's lacrosse.

The proposal for an Ivy League basketball tournament with the winner getting the automatic bid to the NCAA would include the top four finishers only. Here is a story about the proposal.

Yale blew a 15-point lead but managed to make all the plays down the stretch to knock off Columbia on Friday night.
The victory keeps Yale in a tie with Penn for second place in the Ivy League. Harvard survived a scare from Princeton on Friday and is about to close out the Bulldogs.
Penn faces Harvard on Saturday night in a huge showdown. If Harvard wins they'll clinch at least a share of the title and Yale could move into second place all alone in the standings.

Here are some highlights from Friday's win:

NEW HAVEN – Last weekend is already a blur to Yale men’s basketball coach James Jones. His Bulldogs lost an overtime heart-breaker at Cornell and then rallied from 21 points down in the second half to defeat Columbia.
The weekend split left Yale (16-6, 6-2 Ivy League) in exactly the same place it was before it started,in second place and a game behind Harvard in the Ivy League standings. Yale visits Dartmouth (4-20, 0-8) on Friday night before playing at the Crimson (21-3, 7-1) on Saturday at Cambridge, Mass., in another crucial weekend of league play.
“The entire weekend is a complete blur,” Jones said of last week’s split. “You think about playing those games so close together. A four-hour bus ride. We got little sleep and the fact that you play overtime one night and then play the next night.
“We didn’t even get a chance to digest the Cornell game (an 85-84 loss) fully and they’re throwing the ball up for another game. I’m not sure what to take from the comeback in the Columbia game but I know that this team is resilient and they never give up.”
Yale forward Reggie Willhite took over the game against the Lions scoring 24 points including the game-winner in the 59-58 victory. Jones said it might have been the best game he’s ever played at Yale.
“He did what he was capable of doing,” Jones said. “There are very few people in the league that can stay in front of him. We were able to isolate him a little and he was able to do some stuff on his own.”
Said Willhite: “A lot of people were probably writing the season off during the Columbia game. It shows your true colors when your back is against the wall. The loss to Cornell definitely stung. Being down 21 points and staring the end of the season in your face, we had to find something that worked. We played our hearts and were able to get back into it.”
Yale defeated Dartmouth 62-52 getting a game-high 16 points from Willhite. They’re certainly not looking past the Big Green tonight.
“You do exactly what you’ve always done to prepare,” Jones said. “Last week we spent a lot more time on Cornell because they play differently than any other team in the league. This week we spent as much time working on ourselves as we did Harvard or Dartmouth.
“Dartmouth is always tough, especially up there. They’ve played everybody tough. Last week Penn’s Zach Rosen had to bury a 3-pointer from over 30 feet away to beat them. They’re dangerous. We’re very good inside and if we go in there we have a distinct advantage.”
Should the Bulldogs beat Dartmouth it has a short turnaround to get ready for nationally-ranked Harvard.
“It’s the curse of the Ivy League,” Willhite said. “Playing back-to-back nights is always tough but it’s even tougher when you have a huge rivalry game on the second night.”
Yale was embarrassed by Harvard 65-35 earlier in the season. The Bulldogs were never in the contest but Jones feels that his team can truly compete with the Crimson.
“Even in that game, Harvard only scored 65 points,” he said. “So our defense wasn’t that bad, we just couldn’t make a basket.”
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NEW HAVEN — Long before Jeremy Lin became a pop culture phenom and burgeoning NBA superstar, Yale men’s basketball coach James Jones began looking into recruiting the current New York Knicks’ guard.

Jones, however, used his connections in upstate N.Y. to land high school star Alex Zampier. Lin, a 6-3 point guard from Palo Alto, Calif., ended up at rival Harvard.
“We got some information on Jeremy Lin late,” Jones said. “Alex had a better high school career. Jeremy was a good college player but he’s much better now but I don’t think he ever scored over 20 points in six straight college games.”
Jones’ team went 5-3 against the Crimson in Lin’s four years. He never would believe he was watching a future NBA legend.
“What he did in college has nothing to do with what he’s doing in the NBA,” Jones said. “He’s playing like an NBA all-star now.
“That would be like LeBron James playing against us and he didn’t play like LeBron James when he was at Harvard. He didn’t dominate the league like he’s doing in the NBA. What’s he done is nothing short of unbelievable.”
“No one in any stretch of the imagination can tell you they saw this in him. He’s excelling at a level that is for rare air. No one is doing what he is doing. The Knicks have tried a bunch of different point guards over the past few years and none of them have done what he’s doing.”
Lin has led the Knicks to seven straight wins. He hit the game-winning 3-pointer in the final second against Toronto on Tuesday night and entered Wednesday night’s game against Sacramento averaging 26.8 points and eight assists since getting the chance to play extended time on Feb. 4
As a senior at Harvard in 2009-10, Lin averaged 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.4 steals.
Current Yale senior Reggie Willhite spent some time guarding Lin in Willhite’s sophomore season.
“Knowing what he was like back then and the type of player he is now you can tell how hard he’s worked,” Willhite said. “He just looks like he’s got an iron-clad work ethic. He’s developed into a very good player.
“I’m aware that we play mid-major Division I basketball but you can’t rule out someone that works that hard. If you have talent and that work ethic anything’s possible.”
Lin is not the first Ivy League athlete to make an impact in pro sports. Princeton’s Bill Bradley was an NBA legend in the seventies. Last NFL season, former Princeton quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had a splendid first half of he season with the Buffalo Bills.
But they are rare indeed. Jerome Allen (Pennsylvania) is the last Ivy Leaguer to be drafted in the NBA in 1995.
Lin’s quick ascent to stardom is as unlikely as that of former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner who came out of the Arena Football League to win the Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams. Lin came out of the NBA Developmental League, and was just a few days away from getting cut by his third NBA team before catching the world on the fire.
“We have people in our league right now that may end up on an NBA roster if they work hard enough,” Willhite said.
Zampier also went on to play in the D-League upon his graduation in 2010 but played little and did not return this season.
Willhite said that at first he was a bit hesitant to root for a Harvard grad.
“Getting caught up in all the media attention and the hoopla, you know the story that you can’t help but root for him,” Willhite said. “I root for the underdog and he’s definitely the underdog.”
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By Bill Cloutier
Assistant Sports Editor
bcloutier@nhregister.com
NEW HAVEN --Taking a peripheral look at the Yale men’s basketball team one might think that the window is closing on its chances to win the Ivy League and earn an NCAA Tournament berth. With superstars like Greg Mangano and Reggie Willhite in their senior seasons it seems like it’s now or never.

Then you talk to freshman Brandon Sherrod and feel that things might even get better.
Sherrod and the Bulldogs (13-5, 3-1 Ivy) play host to Pennsylvania (11-9, 3-0) tonight at the Lee Amphitheater to kick off a crucial weekend of action in New Haven. On Saturday night Yale hosts Princeton (10-9, 1-2).
“I think our guys understand that our season is still ahead of us,” Yale coach James Jones said. “We still can accomplish everything that we want to accomplish. There was some embarrassment on Friday night (a 65-35 loss against Harvard) and there should have been but 18-year-old kids forget very easily.”
Sherrod is one of class of five promising freshmen Jones brought in last year. They’re all big and have just scratched the surface of their burgeoning talent. They include St. Louis center Will Childs-Klein and guard Javier Duren along with New York forward Matt Townsend and guard Armani Cotton.

“We call ourselves the Fab Five,” Sherrod said. “I’m blessed enough to be in that class. We could be very good in a couple of years.”
Sherrod stays after practice working with Townsend, a rugged 6-7 forward, on his perimeter game which he wants to add to his repertoire. He’s already a presence under the boards. At 6-foot-6, 230 pounds, Sherrod, an All-Stater for Stratford High who helped Choate win a prep school title last year, hunts down rebounds and has strong moves around the boards.
“The thing that strikes you most about Brandon is his athleticism,” Jones said. “He’ a big strong man for a 19-year-old kid. Then you meet him and he’s got a tremendous personality. He’s very well-spoken and has great faith.
“He’a a rabbit chasing the ball. He had eight rebounds in 10 minutes against Harvard and it’s amazing how he goes after the ball. Offensively he goes to his left very well and a lot of big guys struggle going to the opposite hand. There’s no question he can be a big scorer and he puts a lot of time into it.”
Penn provides a major test. Entering the contest undefeated in the Ivy League after cruising past rival Princeton on Monday, the Quakers are led by the high-scoring duo of Zach Rosen and Tyler Bernardini.
“Both teams have two exceptional players,” Jones said. “Zach Rosen is playing as good as anybody I’ve seen in the country. I don’t know that he’s had a bad game shooting the 3-pointer all season long. He made some shots from (near half-court) against Princeton and hit nothing but the bottom of the cup.”
Bernardini poured in 29 points earlier in the season in a game at UCLA.
“You can’t forget about Bernardini. He’s finally has his legs back after all the injuries that he’s had. He’s about 45 or 46. He graduated high school the same year that I did,” Jones quipped.
Sherrod knows the competition will be stiff but he’s ready for most any challenge. He even calls his plight as a kid from Bridgeport going to Yale amazing and he has seen the most action of the freshmen class averaging 3.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 11 minutes a game.
“I think it’s a pretty good story, a kid from Bridgeport which is a pretty tough city coming to such a prestigious university,” Sherrod said. “To have my friends and family be able to come and see me develop as a player is even more special.
“Becoming a student at Yale was a wild adjustment as far as my time-management skills go because I’m so involved in a lot of things. I was singing a cappella with an all-Christian group called ‘Living Waters.’ I’m also a part of the Yale Faith in Action group.”
On the court Sherrod also continues to develop.
“I’ve learned a lot from Greg Mangano and (forward) Jeremiah Kreisberg,” he said. “I’ve worked hard and I’m happy how I’ve played so far. It’s nice to be the sixth or seventh man off the bench. I’m blessed with what I’ve been given. I like where I’m at right now. My role now is just to rebound and get after it, play defense and score when I need to in the paint. I’m here to provide a lot of energy for my team.”
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Here is some video of the disappointing night at the Lee Amphitheater as Harvard pounded Yale 65-35.
The 3-pointer in the video hit by Greg Mangano was his 1,000th point of his career.

By Bill Cloutier
Assistant Sports Editor
bcloutier@nhregister.com
NEW HAVEN -- Contrary to popular belief the Ivy League trophy will not be awarded to the winner of Friday night’s Yale-Harvard men’s basketball game.
The teams were picked one-two in the league’s preseason poll and have not disappointed.
Harvard (16-2) gained national recognition after winning an early-season tournament loaded with national powers in the Bahamas and leaping into both national Top 25 polls. The Crimson are currently ranked 23rd in the nation in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll and dropped out of the AP poll after a recent loss at Fordham. Harvard finished in a tie for the Ivy League title last year but lost the league’s title game against Princeton 63-62 in a game also played at the Lee Amphitheater.
Yale (12-4) has won four straight and is 6-0 at home on the season. The Bulldogs racked up 10 wins before the league schedule, the most since the 1991-92 season.
They’re both 2-0 in the league play tied with Penn atop the standings.
Those are the resumes. You already know about the rivalry.
The Bulldogs host the Crimson at the Lee Amphitheater at 7 p.m. The game is a sell-out and has been the talk of the campus for weeks.
“Sure it’s early but it’s Harvard-Yale and that makes it a big game,” said Yale guard Austin Morgan. “The fact that we were both picked to do well in the Ivy League makes it even bigger. It’s always good to have the New Haven community excited about the game.
“I don’t know how many times it’s been a sell-out but we’re excited to be a part of it.”
While the Bulldogs are anxious to play in front of a packed house, Yale coach James Jones isn’t concerned with counting tickets.
“Every Tom, Dick and Harry has called me for a ticket for the game,” he said. "We’ve been sold out for three weeks and I expect the atmosphere to be as good as gets. But I don’t care if we play in front of four people, I’d rather come out with a ‘W’”
Jones has a masters in coach-speak. It’s one-game-at-a-time and a win here doesn’t mean anything if you lose the next night. In the Ivy League that’s the rule, because win or lose, Yale hosts Dartmouth on Saturday and then has to get ready for Penn and Princeton the next night.
But it also can make Friday’s game all the more important. If the Bulldogs can’t beat Harvard at home it will be awfully hard to do so in Cambridge, Mass., in a few of weeks. And there’s always that two-game trip to Princeton and Penn at the end of the season to worry about. Very few teams ever sweep that series. All the games are the same," Jones said. "If we win on Friday and then lose on Saturday we’re in the same place. You want to win all 14 of them and this one is only different because it’s a home game. You want to be in control of your destiny.”
Yale split the season series with Harvard last season with both teams winning nail-biters on their home courts. For the most part the cast of characters is the same. Jones said Harvard is a little deeper than it was last year.
"They don’t have any bad players and by that I mean they don’t play anyone just because you need to spell a guy,” Jones said. “Everybody that they play this year is capable, very good basketball players. At that same time you look at a guy like Christian Webster, who I think is tremendous and Kyle Casey, who is tremendous, and they’re all playing less minutes than they did last year because they have a good group of freshmen.”
Said Morgan: “We have to play as a team. Harvard is good all-around. If we can get the ball inside out, the strength of our team is inside, we’ll be successful.”
While Harvard certainly has a ton of talent Yale will counter with its “Big Three” of Morgan, who is second in the nation in free throw shooting (93.7 percent), defensive wizard Reggie Willhite, and Orange's Greg Mangano, the top post player in the league.
Mangano leads the Ivy in scoring (19.4 ppg), rebounding (10.3 rpg) and blocks (40). After playing with Team USA over the summer in the World University Games in China, he has continued to progress toward the elite big men in the nation.
And what will make Friday night even more special is that Mangano needs just three points to become the 24th player in program history to reach 1,000 for his career.
His presence, along with smooth sophomore Jeremiah Kreisberg is where Jones starts his game-planning.
“Our advantages, like every game, are that we’re better inside than most every team that we play,” Jones said. “Harvard is pretty good inside, too. What I’ve come to understand is that there are players in this country that if you give them the ball on the blocks and expect them to score and you happen to have five or six of them in this game.
“It should be thrilling and fun to watch.”
Said Morgan: “They’re a good team and they’re getting respected because of it. We’re trying to get respect, too. That’s why they play the games, to see who’s better.”
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By Bill Cloutier
Assistant Sports Editor
bcloutier@nhregister.com
There are 17 players on the Yale men’s basketball team, the most coach James Jones has had in his 13 years at the school. And on a 12-4 team brimming with talent escaping the back end of the bench can be extremely difficult.

Jones, however, always keeps an open mind and his eyes even wider. If you can help his team in some way you will get a chance.
Jesse Pritchard got that opportunity on Saturday and he made the most of it. Pritchard, a defensive whiz with a fine jump shot, came off the bench to score nine crucial points, all in the second half, and played stifling defense as Yale knocked off Brown 73-60 to move to 2-0 in the Ivy League.
Pritchard’s success could give Jones and the Bulldogs another wrinkle as they prepare to play rival Harvard (16-2) Friday night at the Lee Amphitheater.
Pritchard, a 6-5 sophomore swingman from Ames, Iowa, admits it was hard to adjust to life as a role player. He plays behind Yale captain Reggie Willhite, who is perhaps the league’s top defensive player and the team’s third-leading scorer. Willhite is a spectacular athlete, one whose talents are seen in leagues like the Big East.
Pritchard spells Willhite when in foul trouble or need of a rest. He’s played in 15 games averaging eight minutes of action. With Willhite saddled with foul trouble throughout Saturday’s game, Pritchard played a season-high 21 minutes and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.
“We’re fortunate to have a veteran team that’s playing really well,” Jones said. “We think a lot about Jesse. He’s played pretty hard at practice. It’s so hard (to get him minutes) because Reggie is such a dominant player it’s hard to take him off the court.”
“(Saturday) was the most minutes he played all year and that’s a credit to him that he was ready. Jesse does it in a different way than Reggie. Jesse’s a better shooter than Reggie and more of a physical defender as opposed to an athletic defender like Reggie is.”
Said Pritchard : “Everyone on the team was a star in high school so adjusting to limited playing time and having to be ready every minute to do your best definitely took some time. Coach always says that you can’t control whether you make a shot or not but you can control how hard you play.
“My goal is whenever I get my name called in to go into the game to play as hard as I can and the rest will take care of itself. It helps that I can play defense and I can help out that way, but I’m also a shooter and when I come in it can be nerve-wracking to come in make a shot.”
But Pritchard doesn’t lack for confidence. On Saturday, his 3-pointer helped give Yale a double-digit lead for the first time in the game.
“My dad used to tell me that basketball is 90 percent confidence and the other 10 percent is confidence,” he said. “You have to believe in yourself and I do but to be able to go in there (against Brown) and help the team out was a big boost. It also gets some confidence in my teammates in what I can do. I think I proved myself and the next time I come in if I’m open they’ll give me the ball and know that I can knock it down.”
Pritchard said that the chemistry on this team is one of the keys to its early-season success.
“You look at our bench and someone scores or if I come in they’re all hoping that I do well,” he said. “We love each other on and off the court. Everyone wants to get off the bench and get some playing time but if we don’t it’s a team win.”
Pritchard played a year of prep basketball at Blair Academy (Warren County, N.J.), the same school that produced NBA stars Luol Deng and Charlie Villanueva. He is excited for Friday’s contest.
“We all expect to win,” he said. “It’s a matter of protecting our homecourt. We don’t like Harvard. We know we’re as good as they are and the way people have been talking about them, I kind of feel disrespected in a way.
“It kind of feels like they’re going to walk away with the (Ivy League title) and there’s a lot of basketball to be played.”
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By Bill Cloutier
Assistant Sports Editor
bcloutier@nhregister.com
NEW HAVEN – The sigh of relief could be heard all the way to the campus of Harvard in Cambridge, Mass.

Yale, down by as many as 11 points and trailing virtually the entire game, finished the game on a 13-3 run to defeat Brown 68-64 in the Ivy League opener for both teams before a crowd of 1,832 at the Lee Amphitheater Saturday.
Yale, picked second in the preseason league poll, entered the game a 13-point favorite and after posting a 10-4 pre-league record, its best since 1991, its title aspirations were high.
A loss to Brown was frankly unacceptable if the Bulldogs had any chance of taking the Ivy League title from heavyweights such as Harvard..
“They’re all big wins,” Yale coach James Jones said. “You don’t ever want to lose a league game especially at home. You don’t want to start off 0-1. I thought our kids did a really good job of keeping their composure but I can’t tell you that I felt like we were going to pull this one out the whole time because I didn’t.
Austin Morgan led Yale with 18 points seven in the decisive run. Greg Mangano had a quiet 15 points and just four rebounds, well below his league-leading average of 10.7.
And Reggie Willhite finished with 12 points and three steals, two of which changed the game.
“It took the last five minutes of the game to ratchet things up a little bit, especially on the defensive end and make some plays give ourselves the opportunity to win,” Jones said.
Trailing 61-58 with 1:35 to play, Willhite picked the pocket of Brown star Sean McGonahill and turned it into a thunderous dunk. On the very next trip down the court Willhite did it again.
After the second steal Yale took a timeout and then Willhite buried a jumpshot with 59 seconds to play to give Yale its first lead, 62-61, since it led 7-3 in the game’s first minutes.
McGonagill finished with a game-high 23 points but couldn’t beat Willhite when the game was on the line. Regarded as the league’s best defender, Jones never opted to have Willhite defend the high-scoring Brown guard until the game’s final minutes.
“(Entering the game) we didn’t feel we needed to,” Jones said. “We thought our trio of guards would give him enough trouble. But you have to give McGonagill credit. He had a great game. He made a lot of tough shots and I don’t know if he’s going to make those shots night after night.
“Not taking anything away from Reggie but McGonagill played 40 minutes and he may not make those steals if he wasn’t that tired.”
Said Willhite: “Even before I switched on McGonagill they had been stalling. They were playing not to lose, not necessarily to win. I knew I didn’t have many fouls and I knew we weren’t going to get many more possessions so I went for it and it worked out.
“I ended up getting a couple of steals and we got the win.”
.After Willhite’s jumper Brown had a chance to regain the lead but Matt Sullivan (16 points) missed a wide open 3-pointer in the corner.
Yale got the rebound and Michael Grace hit two free throws and later Morgan sank four more free throws to ice it.
“You’d have to be crazy not to (breathe a sigh of relief) after this one,” Willhite said. “We’re happy this one is behind us. We have to keep our destiny in our own hands and we lose the ones that we have the advantage in.”
Brown got just the start it needed. Entering the contest on a four-game losing streak the Bears fell behind 7-3 but got a boost of confidence scoring the next 10 points as Yale went ice cold from the floor and appeared a bit rattled.
Brown knocked down six 3-pointers in the first nine minutes of the game, three from Stephen Albrecht and it finished with nine trifectas (9-for-15) in the first half to take a 38-31 lead into intermission.
It could have been worse for the Bulldogs but McGonagill, who had 16 points at the break was fouled two separate times on 3-point attempts but the 78 percent free throw shooter only made one of six attempts.
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NEW HAVEN — Things got so bad on the injury front recently that the Brown men’s basketball team plucked a couple of bodies from the football tewam to join the squad.
Against the imposing Yale (10-4) frontline they’ll probably need them.
Yale, led by sizzling center Greg Mangano, opens Ivy League play against the Bears Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Lee Amphitheater. The Bulldogs have won the past three games in the series.
Mangano is coming off a monstrous, 35-point, 22-rebound, performance against undermanned St. Joseph College (L.I.) last game. But don’t let the DIII stats skewer what the senior from Orange has done this year. Mangano is already a three-time Ivy League Player of the Week choice averaging 19.9 ppg and 10.7 rebounds. He scored 26 points and grabbed 15 rebounds against then 10th ranked Florida a week ago and had 20 and 11 against Wake Forest.
Brown coach Jesse Agel knows his team will have its hand full guarding the 6-10 post from Notre Dame-West Haven.
"We don’t have one guy who can go out and get us 22 rebounds," Agel said. "As a group we have to do a better job of rebounding and that will be a key component of whether we can be successful.
"We’ll have to work as a unit to stop him. But last week we were down to seven players and now we’re back to 10 players, all the sickness is over and it’s just down to injuries, so we’re excited about that."
While Brown is just 5-11, the Bears do have a pair of impressive wins on the docket this season. They beat Rhode Island for the first time since 2001 and also beat a strong Central Connecticut State team in early December. Both of those wins came at home and the Bears are still searching for their first road win of the season.
Brown features exciting sophomore guard Sean McGonagill. Also a bit hampered recently buy injuries, McGonagill set Brown’s Pizzitola Center mark for points (39) and field goals in a game (15) in a game against Columbia last season. The outing was even more outstanding considering that McGonagill had facial surgery two days prior and was wearing a protective mask.
"They’ve changed some things recently that they had been doing," Yale coach James Jones said. "McGonagill is still the main cog. He makes them go. Andrew McCarthy has done a real nice job of making perimeter jumpshots and he’s been really active. Those are the main two guys."
McGonagill’s offensive prowess may force Yale to defend him with its phenom stopper Reggie Willhite on Saturday. Willhite has a knack for not only shutting down the oppositions best scorers but virtually eliminating them. This year Willhite has also taking up much more of the offensive slack scoring 12.6 points a game.
And guard Austin Morgan continues to possess the outside stroke scoring 13.0 points and leading the team with 36 3-pointers.
Yale, picked second in the preseason Ivy League poll surely knows how important every league is on the slate and will need focus in Brown which it plays two straight games before Yale hosts Harvard in a titanic clash on Jan. 27
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NEW HAVEN — Is it possible to have a double-double by halftime and actually be playing poorly? Those are the lofty standards that Yale’s Greg Mangano has set for himself.
In fact Mangano didn’t think he played that well at all in Sunday’s 101-86 win over St. Joseph’s (Long Island) at the Lee Amphitheater.
But take a step back and appreciate his final numbers, the type of statistics that are reserved for the most elite players.
Mangano finished Sunday’s game with 35 points and 22 rebounds, both career highs. He had also had three blocked shots and grabbed 13 offensive rebounds.

“The guys were doing a good job of getting me the ball, but I had some good opportunities that I missed,” Mangano said. “I was a little more successful in the second half, but I don’t think I played that well.”
Mangano’s performance left Yale coach James Jones a bit speechless. He grabbed the most rebounds for Yale since Chris Dudley pulled down 22 against Harvard in 1987.
“I really don’t know what to say about it,” Jones said. “Offensively he’s as good as you can get. He missed free throws, but I don’t know how much you want him to score. At halftime he had 15 points and 11 rebounds and I was mad at him.”
Take away any of the his contributions and Yale could have been set up for a major embarrassment. The Bulldogs (10-4) raced out to a 29-4 lead in the game’s opening minutes but then got complacent and watched the Golden Eagles close the gap to 46-43 at the half.
“I didn’t think we did a great job of finishing off the first half,” Jones said. “We took the foot off the pedal. They missed some shots early and were a little nervous, but we didn’t do a good job of defending all night.
“They’re a pretty good basketball team. They can shoot. At halftime there was a bit of everything.”
Sure St. Joseph’s is a Division III school, but it’s not just any D-III program. Starting five seniors, the Golden Eagles won 22 games last season and never got rattled when Yale threatened to turn the game into a laugher. It was the first time in the program’s history that it played a Division I school.
“It was kind of fool’s gold in the beginning,” said Mangano, who continually took advantage of his 4-inch height advantage over the St. Joseph’s front-court players. “We knew they could shoot the ball and once they settled in and starting making their shots we found ourselves in a little bit of trouble.
“I think the general consensus in the locker room is that we played pretty poorly.”
In the end, guard Chris Jiminez finished with 22 points and Olivier Laurent added 18. The Golden Eagles, who entered the game averaging 86 points a game, missed their first seven 3-pointers of the game but finished 11 for 27 from behind the arc to make a game of it.
Yale never really put the game away until under four minutes were left to play when they pushed a 10-point lead back up to 17.
“We kept our composure and pulled away at the end,” Jones said.
Will Childs-Klein, who put the Bulldogs over the century mark earlier in the season against Lindon State, did it again with a dunk on Sunday for the final margin.
“We shot 52 percent for the game and scored 101 points and won,” Jones said. “I don’t know how many more points you want to score, but I don’t know the last time we gave up 86 points. We didn’t give up that much to Seton Hall. I wouldn’t suspect that they’re as good as Holy Cross and we didn’t give up 86 to them. It’s disappointing that we didn’t do a good job against them.”
It was the final non-league game of the season for the Bulldogs who open up Ivy League play on Saturday against Brown.
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By Bill Cloutier
Assistant Sports Editor
bcloutier@nhregister.com
NEW HAVEN — Yale coach James Jones is counting down the days until the Ivy League campaign begins. He’s got nine more practices to get the Bulldogs battle-tested.
Tonight is a classic dress rehearsal as Yale hosts Holy Cross (6-7) at the Lee Amphitheater at 7 p.m.

“Holy Cross is a league game,” Jones said. “Holy Cross is like every other team in our league. It’s like any Ivy League team coming in here it just doesn’t have as much on the line.”
The Bulldogs (8-4) will try to snap a two-game skid against the Crusaders. After winning six straight Yale is coming off losses at Wake Forest and No. 10 ranked Florida.
Despite the setbacks it was a big week for Yale’s Greg Mangano. Mangano broke a long-standing school record and averaged 23 points and 13.5 rebounds in games against Wake Forest and Florida. On Monday he was named the Ivy League Player of the Week for the second time this season.
Against Wake Forest, a 72-71 loss, Mangano poured in 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. In addition, he recorded the 173rd block of his career, breaking the Yale record established by Chris Dudley in 1987.
“We knew it was going to be tough going on the road against a good ACC team and an SEC team,” Mangano said. “We kind of let the one at Wake slip away. We got down by 19 in the second half and then we went on a run. If we would have played them a little tighter in the second half we leave there with a win and that would have bee a real good win for our program.”
Yale lost at Florida 90-70 on New Year’s Eve and Mangano’s numbers were even more impressive. He scored 26 points and had 15 rebounds as the Bulldogs stayed with the Gators for much of the game. He was 11-of-18 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. Fifteen of his points came in the second half.
“I felt good the whole road trip,” Mangano said. “Those 10 days off were not really 10 days off for me. Me and coach were working out the whole time. Those type of games are easy to get up for. Nationally televised, we only get a couple of those a year so its gives us a chance as a team and myself individually to show much we’ve improved.”
Mangano buried shots from all over the court against the Gators drawing praise from players and coach Billy Donovan alike.
“I hope to see Greg play that hard and that well against everybody,” Jones said. “If he can play that well against Florida, obviously you’re not going to shoot the ball that well every night, but you can get 16 rebounds every night.”
A year ago, Jones handed Mangano a copy of Dudley’s stats from his senior year at Yale.
“Dudley got 15 rebounds every night,” Jones said. “If Greg can dominate like he should he should we’ll be much better for it.”
Both Jones and Mangano agree that the non-league portion of the schedule has proven that the Bulldogs can make a run at the Ivy League crown no matter how well teams like Harvard, ranked 22nd in the nation and Princeton, with wins over Florida State and Rutgers, have performed.
“I wouldn’t say we took a step back (losing to Wake Forest and Florida),” Mangano said. “It’s a building block for us. We still feel good and can start a winning streak tomorrow. We know how well Harvard is doing but we still feel like we can match up with them.”
Jones said playing the nation’s best team helps identify his team’s weaknesses as the league schedule approaches.
“Playing against Florida showed we have to work on our transition defense,” he said. “They exploit your weaknesses like you won’t get exploited by anybody else. They’ll show a crack and against those teams it’s a flood.”
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Men’s basketball gameday
YALE AT WAKE FOREST
When: Today, 7 p.m.
Where: Joel Coliseum, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Records: Yale (8-2); Wake Forest (8-4)
Video: theacc.com
KEEP AN EYE ON
Scouting Yale: The Bulldogs hope that rust is not a factor. They’ve won six straight but have played just once sice Dec. 7. The winning streak is the longest in a decade and Yale has shown plentyof reliency trailing three of the six victories at the half. Yale leads the Ivy League in scoring at 74.1 ppg. Greg Mangano needs one block to tie Chris Dudley’s all-time mark at Yale.
Scouting Wake Forest: The last time Yale played Wake Forest the Demon Deacons featured Chris Paul and were ranked No. 1 in the nation. This time Wake Forest has won three of its last four games and is ranked 100th in the RPI. Yale is 115th in the RPI. Both teams have lost at Seton Hall this season. Wake Forest has been outrebounded by five boards a game.
PROBABLE STARTERS
YALE
Player Ht. Yr. Pos. PPG
Greg Mangano 6-10 Sr. F 17.0
Reggie Willhite 6-4 Sr. F 12.9
Austin Morgan 5-11 Jr. G 14.6
Jeremiah Kreisberg 6-1 So. F 9.5
Michael Grace 6-0 Jr. G 6.1
WAKE FOREST
C.J. Harris 6-3 Jr. G 18.3
Travis McKie 6-7 So. F 17.7
Tony Chennault 6-2 So. G 11.5
N. Mescheriakov 6-8 Sr. F 6.8
Carson Desrosiers 7-0 So. C 5.9

OFF THE BENCH
Yale — Isaiah Salafia, 6-3, So., G, 2.0 ppg.; Brandon Sherrod, 6-6, Fr., F, 3.1; Wake Forest — Chase Fischer, 6-3, Fr., G, 7.6; Ty Walker, 7-0, Sr., C, 4.7.
— Bill Cloutier

I'm back after a week's vacation.
Check out this space for updates on the area's collegiate sports scene daily.

On Sunday Yale's men's basketball won its sixth straight game, a wild affiar against URI.
The details come from the Yale Website.

Bulldogs Extend Winning Streak To Six With Dramatic Victory

KINGSTON, R.I. – Yale extended its winning streak to six straight games, but it sure didn't come easy. The Bulldogs needed a five-point play with 18 seconds left to help knock off Rhode Island 68-65 before a stunned crowd of 3,355 at the Thomas Ryan Center.

With Yale down by two, 63-61, Austin Morgan hit a three-pointer from just right of the top of the key with 18 seconds left. URI's Rayvon Harris was hit with a foul trying to fight through a screen on the play. Morgan's basket counted, and Jeremiah Kreisberg added a pair of free throws to make it 66-63.

"Our first option was to go to Greg [Mangano]down low to try and tie it. Austin was on the same side, and he was the second option," said James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball. "Austin did a great job knocking down the shot, and Jeremiah set a great screen."

Still, the Runnin' Rams had a chance to tie in the final seconds. Mike Powell's driving layup pulled URI within one, 66-65, with nine seconds left. After a timeout, Yale inbounded the ball to Michael Grace, who was quickly fouled. He made both free throws with seven seconds remaining.

Rhode Island's Jonathan Holton missed a contested three-pointer from the wing as time expired.

Morgan finished with 19 points to pace the Bulldogs. All five of his field goals were three-pointers, and he was 4-of-4 from the foul line. Kreisberg and Mangano each added 15 points, and Grace scored seven.

At 8-2 overall, Yale is off to its best start since the 1991-92 team won 10 of its first 12 games. The six-game winning streak is the longest for the Bulldogs since 2001-02.

Three times during the winning streak, Yale has trailed at the half, and that was the case again against the Rams.

Perhaps showing the effects of a 10-day layoff for exams, the Bulldogs started slowly. URI (1-10) led by 13, 32-19, with three minutes left in the first half. The Bulldogs, though, closed the half with an 11-4 run to pull within 36-30 at the intermission.

The momentum carried over into the second half. Just seven minutes in, Yale had the lead and it grew to 10, 61-51, on a Mangano layup with 6:13 left.

The Bulldogs, though, didn't score again until Morgan's dramatic three-pointer.

"It feels good to get this win," Jones said. "We squandered a lead, but were able to come back. I think we showed a lot of resiliency."

Yale made nine three-pointers in the game and was 7-of-13 from beyond the arc in the second half.

"They switched to a zone, and we knocked down some shots," Jones said. "We did a poor job handling their pressure in the first half."

Isaiah Salafia hit two big three-pointers in the second half to account for his six points.

Nikola Malesevic led Rhode Island with 25 points.

NOTES: Yale was 19-of-22 from the foul line in the game… During the six-game winning streak, the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 127-75 at the free throw line… Mangano had two blocked shots, giving him 171 for his career, one behind Chris Dudley's school record… Reggie Willhite had four assists in the game, including one on Morgan's dramatic three-pointer… The players will now head home for the holiday before getting back together in North Carolina on Dec. 27. The Bulldogs play at Wake Forest on Dec. 29 before heading to Gainesville, Fla., for a New Year's Eve matchup with Florida.

By Bill Cloutier
Assistant Sports Editor
bcloutier@nhregister.com
NEW HAVEN – Yale center Greg Mangano hopes his game will one day take him to the NBA. He has the complete for a big man, possessing good hands, a gentle touch around the basket and even a flair for the dramatic.
With the score tied with less than seven minutes to play Mangano buried a wild 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to spark a 7-0 run and the Bulldogs went on to their fifth straight victory, a 76-59 decision over Bryant in a non-league at the Lee Amphitheater Wednesday night.
“When Greg hit the 3-pointer it kind of got us going,” Yale coach James Jones said. “It was one of those prayers. He had three guys hanging on him and he just threw it at the rim. We had so many other good looks that didn’t go in so that kind of got us going.
“We were not mentally in it 100 percent until crunch time but we picked ourselves up then. I don’t know if it was because we played three games in five days.”
Mangano disagreed that his Jones that his shot was a divine intervention but both were in agreement that the senior from Orange could have played better despite his 21-point, nine-rebound outburst.
“Greg goes for 21-and-nine and I don’t think he played well at all,” Jones said. “That’s my expectation of this young man. He can be a great, great player for us.”
Mangano also had two blocked shots moving him closer to Chris Dudley for the school’s all-time record in that department. He needs just three to break the record.
“It’s an honor to be compared with Chris,” Mangano said. “He had a great career here and a great career in the NBA. Protecting the basket is a big part of our defense and that falls on my shoulders. Blocking shots and rebounding is big. I try to keep the ball inbounds when I block it, too.”
With five straight wins Yale is off to a 7-2 start, the best Jones’ 14-year tenure with the team.
“I’m not going to say this is the best team I’ve had,” he said. “I had a team that won a championship. This team has not won one yet. I like this team and we can be very good. We’re a talented team but we still have a ways to go.”
Both Mangano and Jones and feel this team is loaded with ability bringing with it a confidence in a series of tight games all of which have gone the Bulldogs’ way.
“We have great team chemistry,” Mangano said. “We proved that against Vermont and the second half of the Sacred Heart game (both recent wins). On any given night anyone can have 20 points. When we move the ball and share the ball it’s pretty obvious.
“The past couple of games I was definitely confident in our guys and myself that we would pull it out.”
Wednesday’s game was a see-saw affair until Mangano’s basket gave Yale the lead for good. His short jumper a couple of minutes later gave the Bulldogs a 67-57 lead with 2:17 to play. Bryant never got closer than double-digits again.
Austin Morgan added 10 points and Yale also got great help from its bench which Jones knows will be crucial in the back-to-back nights of Ivy League play. The reserves scored 24 points led by freshman Brandon Sherrod who also had 10 points, and four rebounds. Fellow freshman Matt Townsend also looked good in 10 minutes of action and guard Javier Duren returned to play after missing a few weeks due to injury.
Bryant, a talented offensive team, fell apart down the stretch losing its seventh straight game. Corey Maynard had 15 points and Alex Francis and Claybin McMath finished with 10.
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Dave Borges was on the scene as Yale edges Sacred Heart in a state battle of men's basketball teams

I missed the Yale game on Saturday but here's Dan Nowak's story on the contest and another big effort by Greg Mangano


NEW HAVEN – Yale men’s basketball coach James Jones has been waiting, yearning for the kind of dominating first half the Bulldogs played against Vermont on Saturday at the Lee Amphitheater.

The Bulldogs built up a double-digit lead with just under 11 minutes left in the half. They had 16 rebounds, four blocks, two steals, five three-pointers, shot 87.5 percent at the free throw line and had a 54.2 field-goal percent age in the first half.

When the final second ticked off the clock in the second half, Greg Mangano of Orange had 22 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks and Jeremiah Kreisberg and Austin Morgan added 14 points each to lead Yale to a 68-52 win over Vermont in front of a crowd of 1,205. Mangano and Kreisberg led all scorers with 11 points each at halftime.

"Yes, that was one of our better first halves in a few years," Jones said. "We did a great job on the defensive end and with our rebounding. That was the key, not only in the first half but the whole game.

"We always talk about being solid and playing a complete game. Sometimes we do that, sometimes we don’t. This team has the potential to be very special. That first half is a good example and hopefully we can build on that."

Yale (5-2), coming off a three-game road trip, has won three in a row and four of its last five games.

"It felt great to be back home and it felt good playing on our home court," Mangano said. "We had a great crowd for a Saturday afternoon. Whenever we were making a run it was pretty loud and that pumped us all up."

In the first half, Yale took a 4-2 lead and never looked back, dominating in every phase of the game. The Bulldogs were even hot from 3-point range with five treys in nine attempts.

A Kreisberg 10-foot jump shot gave the Bulldogs a 22-9 lead with 10:40 to go in the half.

Vermont worked the score down to single digits when Four McGlynn made two free throws to cut the Bulldogs lead to 29-20 with 5:32 left in the half.

The Bulldogs responded by closing the first half on a 9-0 run. Morgan’s third 3-pointer of the game gave the Bulldogs a 34-30 lead with 3:25 to go. Brandon Sherrod’s layup with 45 seconds to go capped the run to make it 38-20 at halftime.

"They were quick but I’m not surprised by their speed," Vermont coach John Becker said. "Yale beat us the full 40 minutes. We didn’t have it from the jump tonight."

The Catamounts (4-4) came out more aggressive in the second half, possesssed the ball more and actually outscored the Bulldogs 32-30. But Vermont couldn’t overcome the first-half deficit.

The closest Vermont could get was 55-43 when Luke Apfeld made a layup with 5:10 left in the game.