NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Yale's men's basketball team knew it needed to win its final six games to have a shot to overtake Penn in the Ivy League standings.
But the Elis wasted their small window of opportunity as they were upset at home by Brown, 70-64, last night.
The game did not start well for Yale (9-13, 5-4 Ivy). Coming off a huge weekend in which the Elis swept Princeton and Penn for just the third time in the school's history, Yale came out absolutely flat.
The Bears (10-13, 3-6) scored the game's first 10 points as the Elis turned the ball over on four of their first six possessions.
With the win, Brown ended a stretch in which they had lost six of seven games. It was certainly a relief for Bears head coach Glen Miller to get back on the winning side.
"I can take myself off suicide watch," he said with a laugh.
When Yale's Edwin Draughan picked up his second foul on a charge with 12:54 remaining in the first, Brown led 14-5. And without their leading scorer, the Elis were in trouble.
But with five minutes remaining in the half, the crowd at the John J. Lee Amphitheater finally got into the game. Brown senior guard Jason Forte picked up a technical foul for his response to Yale's Alex Gamboa after the two collided along the sideline. On the ensuing possession, Yale sophomore forward Casey Hughes blocked a shot and then finished off an alley-oop at the other end on a beautiful pass from freshman guard Eric Flato.
But the Bears responded with a Forte three-pointer, and throughout the rest of the half Brown kept the lead at or above nine points, taking a 36-27 lead into halftime.
The second half of the game reinforced the cliche that basketball is a game of runs.
Brown started ice cold, allowing the Elis to get as close as 38-34 in the first four minutes. Senior forward Dominick Martin led the Yale charge, scoring four early points to add to his 20 for the game.
But the Bears responded yet again, going on a 13-5 run to extend their lead to 12. Then it was the Elis' turn, as they scored 12 of the next 16 points to take their first lead of the game, 57-55.
Not surprisingly, the way the half had been going, the Bears came back with another run of their own, reaching a high point when junior guard Luke Ruscoe's three-pointer gave the Bears a five-point lead.
Yale had a shot to tie or win the game, as Forte missed two of three free throws in the final 33 seconds, leaving the Elis only two behind. But Draughan was called for traveling with 14.6 seconds left, and Ruscoe calmly knocked down a pair of free throws to seal the deal.
Forte finished with 13 points and six assists, while Ruscoe led the Bears with 15 points and eight rebounds. Even though the two did not play spectacularly, Miller said their efforts were enough to lead the very young Bears team.
"They played solid games and really led the freshmen ... that has to happen," he said, for Brown to continue winning.
There were too many turnovers for the Elis -- 18 in all -- that prevented them from completing the comeback. Yale shot 49 percent from the field in the game, but still managed to lose -- due in no small part to the turnovers.
"You can't turn the ball over 18 times," Yale coach James Jones said.
The loss drops the Elis to three games behind the Penn in the Ivy League standings with only five games remaining.
Yale will have to regroup before facing Harvard and Dartmouth on the road this weekend. The Elis are not mathematically eliminated from the league race yet. But just like in last night's game, it seems that their final run will be a bit short.
