UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Chris Casey changed up the Stags’ starting lineup, inserting Loyola (MD) transfer Deon Perry into the first five for the first time this season, hoping he could provide an early spark.
But the switch didn’t seem to make any impact, as Yale opened up the game with a quick spurt. After Bez Mbeng’s free throws, Peyton Smith attempted to back down Samson Aletan, and couldn’t make any headway, and missed the jumper. On the other end, Nick Townsend attacked a Louis Bleechmore closeout, found himself deep in the lane and reached around Smith to bounce the ball to Aletan for a slam.
One minute and six seconds later, Townsend fired an alley-oop to Aletan, and opened up a 9-0 lead, forcing Casey to call timeout, just over two minutes into the game.
That early run, which finished at 11-0, and another 10-0 run later in the first half created all of the buffer that the Bulldogs needed on Saturday. Fairfield (2-4) dropped its second consecutive game 91-66 to Yale (4-3), led by 22 points from John Poulakidas. The closest that the game got in the second half was 14.
“For the first 10 or 11 minutes, we didn’t make plays, we didn’t make shots, we didn’t get stops,” Casey said.
After a Louis Bleechmore 3-pointer brought the Yale lead down 10 with 12 minutes left in the first half, Bulldog freshman Isaac Celiscar put his shoulder down and burrowed into the lane. He challenged Jamie Bergens and came out on top with the layup.
On the next possession, Mbeng worked into the post and fed one of his 11 assists to Celiscar for a jumper.
Then, Poulakidas started to heat up. He drained a three during the initial run, but had been silent for the next eight minutes until he canned a stepback triple from the right wing over Noah Best.
One play later, Matt Curtis was late to react as Poulakidas burst from the paint to the perimeter, and he had an open three to extend the run to 10-0.
“I thought we lost him once or twice on switches,” Casey said. “And I thought he made a couple of really tough ones.”
Poulakidas had 17 of his 22 in the first half, and the Stags did a much better job defending him in the second, but it came at the cost of everything on the inside.
The Bulldogs attempted just four 3-pointers in the second half, but got easy dunk after easy dunk for the three big men, Aletan, Townsend and Jack Molloy.
“They were overplaying a lot,” Yale head coach James Jones said. “Trying to deny passes, and so our guys did a good…
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