NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale men's basketball team took care of business in a big way in its season opener.
Matt Knowling went 10-of-10 from the field and scored 20 points as the Bulldogs cruised to a 96-41 victory over Sarah Lawrence at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Yale won its season opener for the sixth time in the last seven seasons and captured its home opener for the 12th straight season.
"Our guys played with very good energy, and we did a great job of sharing the basketball," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs.
It was a balanced attack that led the way. Fifteen of the 16 Bulldogs that saw action scored.
John Poulakidas and
Jack Molloy each had 10 points,
EJ Jarvis scored nine,
Yussif Basa-Ama had eight and
Bez Mbeng and
Danny Wolf each tallied seven.
"The one thing about this team is it is really deep," Jones said. "We have a lot of guys that can help us. I look at the entire roster and everybody can give us something."
Yale shot 57.4 percent from the field, while limiting the Gryphons to 26.2 percent. In addition, the Bulldogs had a 55-27 rebounding advantage and 29 assists on their 39 field goals.
Mbeng led the way with six assists, while
August Mahoney added five and
Isaiah Kelly contributed four. Kelly also blocked three shots.
The Bulldogs scored 11 straight points midway through the first half to seize control, and by halftime Yale had a 56-21 advantage. The lead grew to as many as 55 points in the second half.
Next up for the Bulldogs is a trip to Hawaii for the Outrigger Rainbow Classic. Yale meets Eastern Washington in Honolulu on Friday at 9:30 p.m. EST, plays Mississippi Valley State on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. EST and wraps up the trip with a game against the University of Hawaii on Monday at midnight EST.
