“It was Yale basketball,” Yale coach James Jones said. ”We did what we want to: defense, rebounding and sharing the ball. We managed the game.”
For the Bulldogs, game management meant a convincing 80-56 win over outmanned Dartmouth Friday at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Dartmouth (5-20, 1-11 Ivy) made the first half ugly and bottled up sophomore frontcourt anchor Danny Wolf, who had only six points at the break for Yale (19-8, 10-2).
The game was knotted at 10 when Yale went on a 13-4 run to go up 23-14.
A trey by senior guard August Mahoney gave Yale a 33-22 lead. The Bulldogs led 36-27 at the half.
Dartmouth cut its deficit to 38-32 on a trey by sophomore forward Jayden Williams.
Yale then went on a 12-2 run and the Big Green would get no closer.
Yale shot 55% (33-for-60) from the field and was 10-for-22 from three-point land.
Yale was led in scoring by junior guard John Poulakidas, who posted 16 points. Senior forward Matt Knowling added 13 on 5-for-6 shooting.
Perhaps the best Yale performance came from sophomore forward Nick Townsend, who registered 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting in only 16 minutes.
“That was the Nick I was hoping to see all year,” Jones said. “He did a tremendous job.”
Senior guard Jaren Johnson led Dartmouth with 12 points.
Yale remains in a three-way tie with Princeton and Cornell for the top slot in the Ivy League at 10-2.
Yale hosts Harvard at 7 p.m. and Dartmouth is at Brown at 6 p.m. Saturday.