Yale men’s basketball had that California feeling Saturday night at Santa Clara.
The team came away with a strong 66-58 road win at Leavey Center over the Broncos in perhaps the Bulldogs’ best defensive performance of the 2023-24 campaign.
Yale coach James Jones called it a “tremendous effort, probably our most complete game of the season.”
The Bulldogs had underperformed in a number of games away from John J. Lee Amphitheater, but the 3,000-mile trip appeared to be the antidote to those woes.
Yale raced out to a 15-6 lead, including five straight John Poulakidas points. The junior guard emerged from a shooting slump with a 4-for-9 performance and a total of 14 points.
The score was tied at 21 before Yale went on a run to grab a 33-25 halftime lead.
The closest the Broncos would get in the second half was five points behind (55-50). The Broncos only led for 17 seconds.
Santa Clara entered the game leading the West Coast Conference in three-point shooting percentage but was held by Yale to just 28%.
“Defensively, we just locked in,” Jones said. “Our ability to guard them on the perimeter and rebound was very important.”
Santa Clara had been averaging 77 points per game.
Sophomore forward Danny Wolf scored a career-high 25 points and added 13 rebounds for Yale.
Junior guard Tyeree Bryan delivered a season-high 17 points for the home team.
Yale is at Howard Wednesday at 4 p.m.