All good things must come to an end.
So it went for No. 13 Yale men’s basketball in its 80-71 loss to No. 4 Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 Thursday night in Denver.
Junior forward Pharrel Payne had a career-high 25 points and added 10 rebounds for the Aggies.
A 1:43 sequence at the end of the first half epitomized Yale’s night in its third NCAA Tournament berth in four years.
The Bulldogs were struggling offensively and had no points from the Ivy Player of the Year, senior guard Bez Mbeng, yet were down only 35-29.
Aggies junior forward Solomon Washington was whistled for a flagrant foul off of a rebound.
Mbeng missed both free throws. Yale (22-8) did not convert on the free possession and then turned the ball over.
“In terms of our team, I couldn’t be prouder of our effort today,” Yale coach James Jones said. “It wasn’t our best performance.”
Texas A&M (23-10) closed the half up 40-29 on a graduate guard Wade Taylor IV trey with three seconds left.
Taylor is the all-time leading scorer in Aggies history but had only seven halftime points. He finished with 16.
Yale committed an uncharacteristic eight first-half turnovers, and the Aggies capitalized by scoring 12 points off them.
Yale was forced to play some of the half with seldom-used frosh guard Jordan Brathwaite playing the point, as Mbeng had two early fouls and sophomore guard Trevor Mullin exited with a back injury.
A freshman guard Riley Fox trey cut the deficit to 58-50 and then a junior forward Nick Townsend hook cut it to 58-52 at 8:20.
A senior guard Jace Carter triple and putback gave A&M a 63-50 lead, and Yale got no closer than nine points down.
“Our staff did a great job preparing,” said Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “This is a very hard team to beat.”
Senior guard and Ivy League-leading scorer John Poulakidas led Yale with 23 points and Townsend added 15.
Mbeng had two points but added eight rebounds and nine assists.
Yale sophomore center Samson Aletan was limited to 15 minutes due to foul trouble.
The Aggies won the points-in-the-paint battle 48-32 and outrebounded Yale 37-29.
Jones paid tribute to Mbeng and Poulakidas after their final game in the program, seated alongside them at the postgame press conference.
“These two seniors here, John and Bez, have led us through thick and thin throughout their four years,” Jones said. “They’ve been tremendous assets to our program.”
Both Mbeng and Poulakidas teared up at the press conference.
“Thinking that this is the last game I’m going to put a Yale jersey on with Bez Mbeng just breaks my heart, Poulakidas said, tearing up. “It just breaks my heart.”
They got very lucky last year with Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara getting ejected after 3 minutes. No such luck this year.