SPOKANE, Wash. — Last year, Yale’s John Poulakidas and August Mahoney were at home while the Ivy League champion had an impressive NCAA Tournament run.
The two Bulldogs desired to experience that. When given the chance on Friday, they assisted Yale in becoming the most recent Ivy League champion to disrupt some March Madness brackets.
Poulakidas achieved 28 points, Samson Aletan made an important block during a frenzied scramble in the last moments, and 13th-seeded Yale rallied in the final five minutes to defeat 4th-seeded Auburn 78-76 in the first round on Friday.
For the second consecutive year, the Ivy League Tournament champion defeated one of the pre-tournament favorites. Last year, it was Princeton overcoming Arizona.
This time, it was Yale’s chance.
“Princeton reached the Sweet 16 last year and we were at home. They defeated us in the championship, and every guy in the locker room had been eager for our opportunity,” Mahoney said. “Our opportunity came. We know how capable we are, so we had belief.”
The Bulldogs (23-9) secured an NCAA Tournament victory for only the second time in school history, rallying from a 10-point shortfall midway through the second half. After the last seconds passed, the players celebrated on the scorer’s table in front of their fans.
Yale will confront No. 5 seed San Diego State in the second round on Sunday.
“Being here is an amazing opportunity. I think after I made my initial couple shots, obviously, the floodgates opened,” Poulakidas said. “But I’m just so pleased that we had this opportunity first and could take advantage of it tonight.”
Poulakidas made crucial shot after crucial shot. His step-back 3-pointer with 2:10 left gave the Bulldogs a 73-72 lead. Yale never trailed again, despite a chaotic final stretch that included Auburn taking two shots in the closing seconds after a missed free throw, one of which was blocked by Aletan.
Auburn’s K.D. Johnson attempted a contested winning 3-pointer at the buzzer that missed.
Johni Broome led Auburn (27-8) with 24 points and 13 rebounds, but he collapsed on the court after the defeat. It appeared as if he might have hurt his right knee in the final scramble. Auburn coach Bruce Pearl was unsure when asked about the seriousness of the injury.
Auburn also played most of the game without starting wing Chad Baker-Mazara after he was expelled for a Flagrant 2 foul in the opening minutes. Pearl agreed it was a flagrant, but didn’t think it warranted an ejection.
“It was inappropriate. Clearly a Flagrant 1. The fact that it was elevated to a Flagrant 2 was a decision that the official had to make, but it obviously had tremendous impact on the outcome,” Pearl said.
Auburn dominated the SEC Tournament last week and was considered a favorite to potentially upset No. 1 overall seed UConn if they were to face off in the Sweet 16.
But the Tigers didn't advance beyond the first round and joined other SEC schools South Carolina, Kentucky, Florida, and Mississippi State in the early exits from March Madness.
Auburn was ahead 68-58 with 7:27 remaining after Denver Jones made a 3-pointer, but then they were outscored 20-8 for the rest of the game. Auburn hurt themselves by missing five free throws in the last 3½ minutes.
Yale started their comeback with a 3-pointer from Bez Mbeng, a player who has only made 24% of his shots from beyond the arc this season. Poulakidas scored a couple of jump shots and Dustin Wolf's free throws tied the game at 70-70.
Broome scored for Auburn, but Poulakidas responded with a 3-pointer and the Bulldogs made 5 out of 6 free throws in the last minute.
Mahoney contributed 14 points and Wolf ended with 13 before fouling out late.
“I'm not sure if that's the greatest win in Yale basketball history, but I can say it's the best basketball team that we've ever defeated in Yale basketball history, as far as I'm concerned,” stated Yale coach James Jones.
Jones scored 17 points for Auburn and Jaylin Williams added 13, but the Tigers clearly missed Baker-Mazara. Replays showed that Baker-Mazara seemed to throw an elbow toward Mahoney as they both ran down the court, and officials had a long review before announcing the ejection.
UP NEXT
For the second year in a row, a No. 13 seed will attempt to defeat San Diego State in the second round. Last year, Furman fell short in its effort to upset the Aztecs.
