THE BASICS:

RESULT: Yale 88, Hartford 53
LOCATION: Chase Family Arena at Reich Family Pavilion
ATTENDANCE: 1,133
RECORDS:  Yale (7-5), Hartford (5-10)
 
THE LEAD:
Pancake Thomas followed up an elite performance against Rider with another solid showing, scoring 24 points and grabbing five rebounds, but Yale was red-hot from the field to post an 88-53 win over the Hartford men's basketball team on Saturday night. Justin Sears scored a team-high 24 for the Bulldogs and Makai Mason added 15 in the win.

FIRST HALF:
Hartford opened the contest by trading baskets with Yale, including an early five-point surge by J.R. Lynch to make it a 6-5 game. With just under 12 minutes to go in the first half, the Bulldogs opened their lead up to 15 on a 12-2 run, with the Hawks' lone basket coming on a strong drive to the rim by Pancake Thomas.
Thomas spelled the run after securing a rebound off of a missed free throw by Brandon Sherrod and taking it coast-to-coast for an and-one basket. After drilling the free throw, he then hit a jumper on the next possession to cut Yale's lead to 28-15 with under seven to play in the half. But whenever Hartford attempted to make an offensive run, Yale countered by looking to score inside and kept the lead in double digits.
The offense continued to run through Thomas, as he hit from downtown to secure the final three points of the half, leaving the Hawks trailing the Bulldogs 41-24. He led Hartford with 12 points going into the break.

SECOND HALF:
Yale came out to the tune of a 21-9 run before a deep three by Taylor Dyson cut the deficit to 62-36 at the under-12 timeout. Thomas continued to build off his high-scoring half, chipping in another 10 points in the opening 13 minutes, including two three pointers and a layup.
The Hawks turned up the defensive pressure, forcing three transition opportunities in a row on a block by Dougal Weir, a steal by Jason Dunne, and another block by Jalen Ross with 11:10 to go. Later, a tough finish on a nifty pass from Dunne sent TreVaughn Wilkerson to the line for a three-point play with 4:53 to play. Jack Hobbs followed that up by pulling down an offensive rebound in traffic and kicking out to Dunne for a three, his first points of the night.
Yale's inside scoring and second-chance points proved to be too much to overcome, as the Hawks struggled to punch back offensively. Yale finished with 40 points in the paint on th night, as the visitors finished off the victory.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
• This was Thomas' second-straight game scoring over 20 points and his fourth this season. He is averaging 18.7 over his last seven games and 15.9 per game on the season.

• TreVaughn Wilkerson posted a career high in minutes (12) in the contest, while also logging his first career block and steal in the effort.
 
• Hartford has forced 19 or more turnovers in four of the last six games. Dunne and George Blagojevic each contributed two steals to the defensive effort.
• Jason Dunne hit his second three in as many games, and he is now three of his last four from downtown.

UP NEXT:
Hartford heads back out on the road for its first conference matchup of the year with UMass Lowell, taking on the River Hawks on Wednesday, Jan. 6. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. at the Costello Athletic Center.