The last time Yale men’s basketball defeated Vermont in Burlington, Barack Obama was president. (It was 2014.)
Burlington was a house of horrors for Yale two years ago, when a Vermont four-point play with .7 seconds left downed the visitors.
But Yale exorcised those demons with a tough 77-74 victory over the Catamounts Sunday in a heavyweight mid-major battle.
“We just played together and stuck in there,” Yale coach James Jones said. “Vermont is a really good team. Just makes you feel good about us going forward.”
The Bulldogs (7-1) led the Catamounts (5-4) 35-31 at the half behind 16 bench points from sophomore guard Riley Fox.
Yale went up 10, 46-36, on a junior center Samson Aletan free throw.
Vermont charged back and knotted the score at 59 on a four-point play by grad student guard TJ Long, reminiscent of the four-point play which he made two years ago from virtually the identical spot on the floor.
A redshirt sophomore forward Gus Yalden trey put Vermont up, 62-61.
Fox hit a corner triple to give Yale a 73-69 lead, and two senior forward Nick Townsend free throws put the game out of reach at 77-71.
Yale shot 49% from the field (27-for-55).
The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Fox with 23 points on 9-for-14 shooting. Sophomore forward Isaac Celiscar added 16 points and snared five rebounds.
Yalden posted 22 points for Vermont.
Vermont was coming off a 79-74 win over Princeton in Florida Wednesday.
The Catamounts entered the game with a 60-5 record at Tom Brennan Court over the last five years. Brennan coached at Yale from 1982-1986 and Vermont from 1986-2005. He was seated courtside.
Yale is next in action on Tuesday at home against Division III SUNY Maritime.