Julia Tiernan/YH Chris Leanza, SY '03

B-ball keeps on steamrolling foes in Ivy play

Jason Williams, PC '00, soared towards the hoop from the left side. Brown had just committed another turnover, and John Kirkowski, MC '00, saw the opportunity to give Yale a 19-point lead and the crowd a moment to remember. Kirkowski let go of the alley-oop, Williams flew toward the basket...and the ball bounced off his chest while he jammed his finger on the basket.

The play gave the season-high crowd of 2,112 at John J. Lee Amphitheater a scare, but after a painful pull, Williams' finger was okay, and so were the Bulldogs, who won, 67-53, on Fri., Jan. 21. Kirkowski's idea on the pass was a good one. "Jason Williams can jump out of the gym," Yale coach James Jones said. While the pass itself wasn't perfect, the Bulldogs were nearly perfect in the first half of play, outscoring Brown 34-17, in large part because of aggressive plays like the attempted alley-oop. Yale managed to make the Bears' vaunted transition game look wilted.

Yale's underclassmen, including leading scorers Onaje Woodbine, BK '02, and Neil Yanke, MC '01, and starters Chris Leanza, SY '03, and Bill Parkhurst, CC '03, have been in the spotlight for most of the season. Woodbine has carried the team of late—against Brown, he scored 18 and led the Elis in scoring for the sixth straight game, earning Ivy League Player of the Week honors for his efforts.

But the Bulldogs' scoring is divided evenly among the four classes, and on Friday, it was the seniors who shone brightly. Kirkowski, Williams, and Ted Smith, CC '00, combined for 25 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, and five steals. On defense, Williams and Smith shut down Brown's leading scorer, Earl Hunt '03, holding him to seven points on two of eight shooting in man-to-man coverage. "I wasn't very impressed [with Hunt]," Kirkowski said. "He couldn't show much with the defense on him. He couldn't get a shot and when he tried it wouldn't fall for him."

Kirkowski said that pride was a powerful motivating factor for the Eli seniors' play, particularly in holding Brown, the league's top-scoring team, to 17 points in the first half. Brown's only two Ivy victories last season were against Yale, but this year two freshmen start for the Bears. "Especially with Brown beating us last year, and being a very young team, we took it very personally," Kirkowski said. "We felt we owed them for last year."

While Yale's seniors carried the day, Brown's inexperience showed. Hunt seemed frustrated the entire game. Brown's second-leading scorer, rookie center Alaivaa Nuualiitia '03, led the Bears with 15 points, but he also lost the ball several times due to poor ball handling. Brown's only senior, guard Corey Vandiver, managed just four points with no assists and two turnovers in 25 minutes, seeming flustered by the crowd's repeated chants of "Corey! Corey!"

M. Basketball

Record: 5-10, 3-0 Ivy Recent Results: Won vs. Brown, 67-53. Coming Up: Sat., Jan. 29 at Brown, 5 p.m.

For the game, Brown had 20 turnovers and only five assists. The Bulldogs had a major height advantage over the Bears, but Kirkowski attributed the team's offensive rebounding edge (18-9) and defensive success to superior effort. "I think the major difference was the effort level that our players gave," he said. "On one possession, the ball was rolling around. Onaje dove, then Neil dove, and we ended up getting a jump ball." The Elis also drew numerous offensive fouls, thanks to Jones' emphasis on the importance of drawing charges.

Even in October, Jones saw that his team had the potential to play like they have played the last three games. "The biggest surprise is that it took us as long as it has to get to this level," he said. However, the Bulldogs still have not shown that they can maintain this level on the road—they are 5-2 at home and 0-8 on the road. According to Denver Coach Marty Fletcher, whose team beat Yale in Denver earlier this year, "College basketball is the game that is the most difficult to perform in intercollegiate athletics on the road."

Jones is not worried by Yale's poor road record, however, because a number of the team's losses were to powerful non-conference schools like North Carolina State, Colorado, Denver, and High Point. But to win again on Sat., Jan. 29 in a rematch against Brown in Providence, the Elis will have to play better defense than they did in the second half last weekend, when the Bears scored 36 points and took 19 free throws. The Bulldogs will also have to do a better job of getting the ball to Yanke. They turned the ball over numerous times trying to force the ball into the post, and Yanke scored under 10 points for the fifth time in six games. "We have practiced passing the ball in, but we need to practice the pass leading to the pass," Jones said.

If the Elis can sweep Brown, they will be 4-0 in the league entering their big weekend against Pennsylvania, on Fri., Feb. 4, and Princeton, on Sat., Feb. 5. Kirkowski insisted that the team is not looking past Brown. "We want to go into that weekend 4-0 in the league, but we know we have to go through Brown first," he said.

Photo of Chris Leanza, SY '03, by Julia Tiernan.

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