On an emotionally charged Senior Night, Yale took care of business and defeated Brown in a Saturday night showdown, 74-65, at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Four Yale seniors, Azar Swain, captain Jalen Gabbidon, Eze Dike and Jameel Alausa, played their last home games for the Bulldogs. Dike started after not playing this calendar year due to injury.
“I thought we played a better brand of Yale basketball,” coach James Jones said in comparing the performance to the efforts against Dartmouth and Cornell on the road last week. Jones captured his 350th career win. It was also his 191st Ivy League win, moving him ahead of former Penn coach Fran Dunphy into second place all-time in league history behind only Pete Carril.
By halftime, Yale was playing more for pride than anything else, as Princeton had already dispatched Penn, ending Yale’s chances to share the Ivy regular season crown with the Tigers.
Yale (17-11, 11-3 Ivy) led for most of the first half and took a 39-31 lead into intermission.
Brown (13-16, 5-9) cut the deficit to five early on in the second half, but Yale then went on an 11-3 run and led by as many as 17 at the 4:34 mark.
Yale was led by Swain with 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting. Gabbidon had a career-high six assists. Jaylan Gainey posted 20 points and 18 rebounds for the Bears in the final game of a stellar career for Bruno.
Brown was 26-for-49 from the field largely because of the strong inside play of Gainey. But the Bears were a woeful 1-for-15 from long range.
Both Swain and Gabbidon were caught up in the emotion of Senior Night.
”I felt anxious and wanted the game to start,” Swain said.
All of the players had family in attendance, many of whom were witnessing their first Yale game in person.
Yale plays Penn on Saturday in an Ivy League Tournament semifinal matchup and rubber match after the teams split the season series. Brown