Yale men’s basketball shook off the rust of a narrow loss in Ithaca Friday night and closed strong to defeat Columbia at Levien Gym, 84-76.
“Really gutsy performance with some guys injured,” Yale coach James Jones said.
Seven-foot sophomore frontcourt stalwart Danny Wolf played the game with a mask after suffering a broken nose against Cornell. Wolf, Yale’s leading scorer, was coming off two subpar performances at Princeton and Cornell. Wolf finished with 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting and added a team-leading nine rebounds.
Jones said that Wolf “played the way he is capable (of).”
Senior forward Matt Knowling, still shaking off the effects of a groin injury, also posted 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting. Jones called his performance ”tremendous.”
Yale (18-8, 9-2 Ivy) shot a dismal 42.3% from the free throw line against Cornell but rebounded with a 13-for-16 performance Saturday night at Columbia (13-11, 4-7).
Columbia opened up an 18-13 lead and then Yale ran off seven straight, capped off with a rare trey from sophomore forward Nick Townsend.
The Bulldogs led 35-33 at the half despite being uncharacteristically outrebounded, 22-12.
A trey from junior guard Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa put Columbia up, 54-49. The Dominican Republic native led Columbia with 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting.
Yale then went on a 7-0 run to lead 70-63. The Bulldogs never looked back and now sit in a three-way tie atop the Ivy with Princeton and Cornell.
Yale hosts Dartmouth at 7 p.m. and Columbia is at Princeton at 8 p.m. Friday.