Yale Notches First Tourney Win In History With Upset Of Baylor

With 6.8 seconds remaining and his team down by just two points, Lester Medford took the inbounds pass and sprinted towards the basket.  Approaching the paint, Medford attempted a behind the back dribble to get to the basket, but the floor slipped out from under him, the ball slipped from his hands to Brandon Sherrod, and the game slipped through the favored Bears’ grasp.

Yale Earns First NCAA Tourney Win By Upsetting Baylor 79-75

Medford laid face first on the court for a moment after turning the ball over, despite the 2.2 seconds remaining, he knew he had lost Baylor the game.  With no timeouts remaining, Baylor would have to go the full length of the court to even attempt a decent shot, regardless of whether Sherrod made or missed the foul shots.

Making the tournament for the first time in 54 years, the Ivy League champs were led by Makai Mason, who made all 11 of his free throw attempts on his way to a game high 31 points while shooing 9-18 from the field.

“I kind of just felt in the zone, I guess,” Mason said. “I guess I thought if I missed it, I’m sure our coach would have screamed at me. … Luckily, I was able to knock it down.”

Yale who ranks in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage and held a 36-32 rebound advantage.

When asked about how the Bulldogs could have accumulated more rebounds the Bears, Taurean Prince provided an interesting answer to say the least.

Prince led Baylor with 28 points and hit one of his four three pointers with 16 seconds left to cut the Bears’ deficit to 76-75 after trailing by as many as 13 with a little over 7 minutes remaining.

The 12th seeded Bulldogs also got solid contributions from Justin Sears who added 18 points and got 10 points from Sherrod.

“We just got outrebounded, and they played harder than us the whole 40 minutes,” Prince said.

Things weren’t all sunshine and rainbows for the 5th seeded Bears. Prince and reserve Rico Gathers got into a brief shoving match in the second half.

Yale captain Jack Montague, who was expelled from school was at the game in the stands supporting his former teammates. Montague expulsion was a result of a sexual abuse case, he didn’t say anything regarding the case.

Following their milestone victory, Yale will face the fourth seeded Duke Blue Devils on Saturday at 2:40 in Providence.

Baylor sees it’s season end in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. The Bears lost last season as a 3 seed when 14th seed Georgia State completed the upset with a three pointer with 2.8 seconds remaining.

As for Prince, his career is finished and he will begin to prepare for the upcoming NBA Draft. Bleacher Report currently has the 6’7”, 201 pounds senior going 13th to the Utah Jazz in their latest mock draft.