It's Three Straight Wins Over In-State Rivals for Men's Hoops

The long-range shooting of Wes Cole helped the Hawks defeat Yale.

The University of Hartford men's basketball team has reeeld off three straight victories against in-state opponents, culminating with the most recent road victory at Yale on Nov. 27.

In that contest, sophomore Wes Cole scored a team-best 12 points and classmate Yolonzo Moore II added 10 to lead the Hawks to a 60-51 victory. The team is off to a 3-3 start, its best through six games since the 2006-07 season.

Everything clicked for UHart out of the halftime break as it came out of the locker room to score 17 of the first 19 points of the stanza. That run allowed the Hawks to snag a 20-point advantage over Yale at 40-20 with 14:40 to go.

That Hawks' lead was extended to as many as 23 points at 46-23 after Cole hit nothing but nylon from downtown with 12:24 remaining.

The Hawks snapped a span of winless road games against Connecticut opponents with the victory, as it had not beaten an in-state team outside of the Chase Family Arena since posting a 59-55 defeat of Sacred Heart on Dec. 14, 2008. The win also broke Yale's four-game winning streak against the Hawks.

UHart's previous wins this season against state rivals, both at home, came against Sacred Heart (62-47 on Nov. 16) and Central Connecticut (80-77 on Nov. 24).