Mission accomplished.
Yale made the trip up to Hanover last night and came away with a hard-fought 66-61 win at Leede Arena. It was Yale’s 12th straight win over the Big Green.
“This is a tough place to play, and we were fortunate to get out with a win,” Yale coach James Jones said.
Yale hasn’t lost at Leede Arena since Gabas Maldunas broke Bulldog hearts there seven years ago.
Yale (16-10, 10-2 Ivy) started strong and grabbed 15-6 and 32-23 leads on Bez Mbeng layups.
The Bulldogs led 36-27 at the half after holding Dartmouth (7-16, 4-8) to 42% shooting.
Dartmouth made a number of runs in the second half, led by Aaryn Rai. The lead was cut to 43-41 on a Rai dunk at the 15:14 mark. The Big Green never led in the second half. Rai finished with 19 points on 8-for-15 shooting.
August Mahoney and Azar Swain made six straight free throws in the final 36 seconds to salt away the victory. Swain is the Ivy League’s leading free throw shooter. The Brockton, Mass. native finished with 21 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field and an 8-for-8 performance from the free throw line.
Yale shot 46.9% from the field and won the rebounding battle, 34-23.
The Bulldogs are in sole possession of first place in the Ivy with a half-game lead over Princeton.
Yale travels to take on Cornell while Dartmouth hosts Penn Saturday.