WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – It appears Yale is ready for the start of Ivy League play. In their final non-conference game, the Bulldogs rolled to a dominant 76-44 victory over Monmouth at the OceanFirst Bank Center.
EJ Jarvis posted a double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds) to lead a balanced Yale attack.
Isaiah Kelly added 13 points,
John Poulakidas had 11,
Jack Molloy scored eight and
Yassine Gharram contributed seven.
The Bulldogs finish non-Ivy play with a 10-3 record. Their league opener is Dec. 31 at Columbia.
"I feel great about where we are," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "There are still areas we can improve, and we will continue to work to get better."
Yale had been off for final exams and hadn't played since a 77-64 win over Fairfield on Dec. 12.
The Bulldogs, though, showed no signs of rust, scoring the first eight points of the game and building a 24-5 lead midway through the first half. By halftime the advantage was 40-16. Yale shot 54 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes and limited Monmouth to 24 percent.
"It was a great defensive effort, and offensively we did a good job, especially given the circumstances of coming off finals," Jones said. "I thought we were very focused."
It was more of the same in the second half as the Bulldogs led by 37, 58-21, with 14 minutes to play.
Yale finished with a 51-25 edge in rebounding. Gharram had a career-high nine boards, and
Michael Feinberg added six.
August Mahoney contributed four of the Bulldogs' 16 assists.
Yale will enter Ivy play with 10 overall wins for the third time in the last four years. In a majority of the victories the Bulldogs have cruised as eight have come by double figures.
Tip at Levien Gym for the Ivy opener is set for noon on the 31st.
