Dec. 7, 2007

Complete Release in PDF Format

YALE TALE
After playing five of its first seven games on the road, the Bulldogs (2-5) are home for two straight, starting with Saturday afternoon's non-league game with Vermont. Yale Athletics has partnered with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program to help children in need this holiday season. The athletic department will be collecting toys at the John J. Lee Amphitheater on Saturday. People who bring a new, unwrapped toy will receive two free general admission tickets to the game. The Bulldogs are coming off a thrilling 70-66 overtime victory over Fairfield on Tuesday that snapped a five-game losing streak. The Bulldogs got a solid contribution from their bench. Alex Zampier scored a career-high 14 points. Freshman Garrett Fiddler had four points and three rebounds in a career-high 17 minutes. Ari Greenberg (three points) and freshman Porter Braswell (two points, two rebounds) also played key roles. Yale's bench outscored Fairfield's 26-9. Ross Morin had another strong game, scoring a team-high 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting. In his last two games, Morin is shooting 68.4 percent from the field and averaging 15.0 points. Three players average double figures in scoring for the Bulldogs, led by Matt Kyle (11.7 ppg.). Caleb Holmes is averaging 11.3 points is shooting 50 percent (14 of 28) from three point range. Eric Flato is averaging 10.7 points and leads the team with 18 assists.

HISTORY LESSONS
The Bulldogs and Catamounts are playing for the 19th time and each team has won nine times. The last meeting was a 93-90 Vermont overtime win in Burlington in 2000. Yale has won two straight over the Catamounts in New Haven.

SCOUTING VERMONT
The Catamounts (2-5) have dropped two straight, an 86-61 decision to two-time defending NCAA champion Florida on Nov. 30 and a 76-75 loss at Dartmouth on Nov. 27. Mike Trimboli, a Norwalk, Conn., native, became the 27th player in school history to top the 1,000-point mark when he scored 22 in a win over NJIT. Trimboli is averaging 18.6 points and leads the team with 14 three-pointers. Marqus Blakely leads UVM in scoring (19.4 ppg.) and is shooting 56.5 percent from the field. The Catamounts won 25 games last year and lost to Kansas State 59-57 in the first round of the NIT. Mike Lonergan, who is in his third year as the head coach at UVM, was the America East and NABC District I Coach of the Year last season.

YALE 70, FAIRFIELD 66 (OT)
For much of Tuesday's game with Fairfield, Yale relied on its bench and underclassmen. In the end, though, it was a pair of senior starters who put the Bulldogs over the top. Caleb Holmes's three-pointer with 15 seconds left in the second half tied the score at 60 and forced overtime, and Eric Flato scored six of his 11 points in the extra session as Yale rallied for a thrilling victory over the Stags at Alumni Hall. The Bulldogs trailed by six, 56-50, with 4:46 remaining in the second half. Holmes, though, started the comeback with a conventional three-point play. Ross Morin then made two free throws to pull Yale within one, 56-55, with 2:17 left. After Fairfield's Greg Nero made two free throws, a Flato jumper got the Bulldogs back within one with 39 seconds remaining.Warren Edney made two free throws for the Stags with 26 seconds on the clock, but Holmes took a pass from Alex Zampier and made a long three-pointer from the right wing to tie it at 60. The Stags had two chances to win it, but Nero and Mike Evanovich both missed. The Bulldogs scored the first four points of overtime and went ahead by five, 66-61, on Morin's layup with 1:57 left. Fairfield, though, scored five straight points to tie the score before two free throws from Flato gave Yale a 68-66 lead with 1:05 remaining. The Stags had two possessions to try and tie, but Zampier came up with a pair of steals. Flato then calmly went to the line and sank two free throws with four seconds left to seal the victory.

PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
The Bulldogs were picked to finish second in the 2007-08 Ivy League Preseason Media Poll. Yale received three first-place votes and had 104 points. Cornell is the choice from the 16 media members from the eight Ivy areas who voted. This is the first time since 1988-89 that neither Penn nor Princeton was selected to finish first.

1. Cornell, 119 points (10 first-place votes)
2. Yale, 104 (3)
3. Penn, 97 (1)
4. Columbia, 80 (1)
5. Brown, 70 (1)
6. Harvard, 43
7. Princeton, 40
8. Dartmouth, 23

JONES SERVES AS ASSISTANT COACH FOR TEAM USA
James Jones, the Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball at Yale, served as an assistant coach for the 2007 USA Basketball Men's Pan American Games team. Villanova's Jay Wright was the head coach and Jones was joined as an assistant coach by Alabama's Mark Gottfried. The team, which featured Georgetown's Roy Hibbert, Michigan State's Drew Neitzel and Indiana's D.J. White, finished fifth in the Games, held in Rio. The 2007 Pan American Games assignment was Jones' second coaching experience with USA Basketball. He previously served as a court coach for the 2006 USA Men's U18 National Team Trials.

CHALLENGING SCHEDULE ON TAP
Seven teams that reached the postseason last year, including Final Four participant UCLA, highlight the 2007-08 Yale schedule. The Bulldogs played the Bruins on Nov. 23 for only the second time and made their first appearance in Pauley Pavilion. Later this month, Yale visits another of college basketball's historic venues, Allen Fieldhouse, for a game against Kansas. The Jayhawks lost to UCLA in the Elite Eight last year. Other 2006-07 NCAA participants on the schedule include Stanford (Nov. 20), Holy Cross (Nov. 28) and defending Ivy League champion Penn (Feb. 16, Feb. 29). In addition, the Bulldogs play at UMass (Nov. 14) and host Vermont (Dec. 8), both of whom played in the NIT last year. "Our 2007-08 schedule may be the most challenging that we've had in my tenure," said James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball.

BULLDOGS TO MAKE FOUR TV APPEARANCES
Yale is currently scheduled to make four television appearances this season, starting with the Nov. 20 game against Stanford, which was broadcast on Fox Sports Net Bay Area. The Kansas matchup on Dec. 29 is on Jayhawk TV, which is available as part of the ESPN Full Court package. Both Yale-Penn contests will be televised. The game at the Palestra is on ESPN Classic and will mark Yale's second appearance on the ESPN family of networks (the 2003-04 season opener against UConn was on ESPN2). The John J. Lee Amphitheater will host the YES Network on Feb. 29 when the Quakers visit New Haven.

FREE VIDEO STREAMS ON YALEBULLDOGS.COM
Free live video will be available for 12 of Yale's 13 home games. Fans can access the games at yalebulldogs.com by clicking on the Yale All*Access logo in the top right corner. An e-mail address and password are required to subscribe to the service. WYBC (1340 AM), the flagship station for Yale Basketball, will provide audio.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Seniors Caleb and Nick Holmes are the first set of twins in the history of Yale basketball... James Jones' younger brother Joe is the head coach at Columbia. The Jones brothers are one of only two active brother duos coaching at the Division I level. Seth and Brad Greenberg are the head coaches at Virginia Tech and Radford.

Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity