The agony of defeat was never more manifest than Tuesday night in the bowels of John J. Lee Amphitheater, where Yale men’s basketball was edged by UNC Wilmington in their NIT opener, 68-67.
“That’s a tough way to end the season for this group,” Yale coach James Jones said.
Chalk it up to poor free-throw shooting (9-for-22), tired legs or a combination of both, but Yale squandered a 14-point second-half lead (40-26) as a tournament No. 3 seed in its first ever meeting with UNC Wilmington.
Yale was playing its third game in four days, and the Seahawks were off since March 8, after losing to Campbell in the CAA quarterfinals.
“Very difficult circumstances to play under,” said Jones.
Yale (24-7) came out seemingly fresh and grabbed a 9-0 lead on a senior Casey Simmons trey. The Seahawks’ early gameplan was to double Yale’s leading scorer, senior Nick Townsend, leaving several Bulldogs open on the perimeter and at mid-range.
A senior guard Christian May trey cut the deficit to 30-26, and Yale led 32-26 at intermission.
The home team came out strong and went on a 7-0 run to start the second stanza.
A senior guard Nolan Hodge layup gave the visitors their first lead at 52-51.
Hodge hit another jumper to make it 55-51. A sophomore forward Isaac Celiscar triple and a Townsend driving layup gave the Bulldogs the lead back at 59-58.
May hit a corner three with one second remaining on the shot clock to give UNC Wilmington (27-6) a 65-64 lead.
Junior guard Trevor Mullin hit a contested trey with 57 seconds left to put Yale back up, 67-65. May followed with a 23-footer to make it 68-67.
Townsend missed two free throws with 12 seconds remaining, and a missed Celiscar 29-footer at the buzzer ended Yale’s season.
Celiscar led Yale with 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Jones was reflective in a postgame press conference.
“This year was every bit as satisfying as when we beat Baylor and Auburn,” Jones said, referring to Yale’s NCAA Tournament Round of 64 wins over those schools in 2016 and 2024, respectively.