Yale men’s basketball averted disaster by outscoring Brown 22-5 to end their game and defeat the Bears at John J. Lee Amphitheater, 81-69, Friday night.
“Really tough, gritty win by the team tonight” Yale coach James Jones said. “Brown had us down and out three times in the game.”
Brown didn’t score from the 6:19 mark of the second half until 42 seconds remained.
Yale (17-4, 6-2) looked liked it was over the hangover from a tough defeat at Harvard’s hands Saturday. The hosts opened the game on an 11-0 and 14-2 run, but Brown clawed back, knotted the game at 29 and led 36-31 at the half.
“We got a little complacent,” said Jones.
Brown (7-14, 1-7) upped its lead to 44-34 before sophomore guard Riley Fox became a one-man wrecking crew.
The Connecticut native hit back-to-back treys to cut the deficit to 44-40.
Brown went on a mini-run, but a sophomore guard Jordan Brathwaite triple tied the game at 57.
A senior forward Nick Townsend layup put the Bulldogs ahead 68-66 and they never looked back.
Fox finished with 23 points off the bench on 9-for-13 shooting, 4-for-6 from long range.
Townsend had 21 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Yale outrebounded Brown, 32-26.
Junior guard Luke Paragon led Brown with 15 points.
Yale leads the country from long range at 41% and increased its percentage, shooting 12-for-25.
The Bulldogs are now in sole possession of first place in the Ivy at 6-2, one-half game over Harvard.
Yale plays a rare February out-of-conference game next, traveling to Washington to face Howard at 7 p.m. on Monday, before a road trip next weekend to Dartmouth and Harvard.
Brown plays at Harvard at 7 p.m. on Friday.