FAIRFIELD, Conn.- Trailing by as many as 15 in the second half, the Sacred Heart University men's basketball team cut the deficit to one with 3:58 to play, but could never take the lead and ultimately fell to Yale, 70-64, at the William H. Pitt Center on Tuesday afternoon. The Pioneers shot 51 percent (25-49) from the floor and forced 20 Bulldog turnovers, leading to 23 points, but got outrebounded 38-19. Steve Glowiak led SHU with 15 on 5-6 shooting from three-point range in the loss, the third straight for SHU, who finishes its non-conference schedule at 6-7. De'von Barnett added 14 on 6-9 shooting and a team-high five rebounds. Yale was led by a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds from Javier Duren and also got 16 points from Justin Sears. The Bulldogs went 10-16 from the three-point line, as they improve to 10-4 to begin the year.

The 15 point deficit was the result of a 17-5 Bulldog run out of the locker room. Yale opened the second half making 5-6 three-pointers, including one by Jack Montague to push the advantage to, 47-32, with 13:49 remaining. It was Montague's second trifecta during the run, which also had two three-pointers made by Armani Cotton.

After Yale made another three-point basket to regain a 14 point advantage at the 12:49 mark, Sacred Heart began its comeback. Barnett scored four straight, followed by a Jordan Allen layup to cut the deficit back to eight with 10:12 remaining. The Bulldogs knocked down another three-pointer to extend the lead back to double digits at eleven before SHU rattled off eight of the next ten points to get back within five at, 57-52, after a Jordan Allen layup with 7:23 left.

Yale responded with four straight points of its own to stretch the advantage back to nine with 5:58 showing, before the Pioneers scored eight unanswered to get within one. Phil Gaetano and Glowiak made back to back trifectas before Gaetano ended the flurry with two free throws at the 3:58 mark to make the score, 61-60.

Duren answered the run with a three-point play with 3:02 remaining to push the lead back to four. After a Gaetano layup on the next possession down the court cut the lead back down to two with 2:48 left, Yale used 6-6 shooting from the foul line in the final 2:09, including 4-4 on the next two possesions, to ultimately ice the game. Evan Kelley's free throws with 1:09 on the clock to get within four were the last points SHU would score.

Yale went 7-8 from the three-point range and 11-13 from the line in the second half. Matt Townsend joined Duren and Sears in double figures with 12 for the Bulldogs. Duren led Yale with five assists.

Allen and Gaetano were also in double figures for SHU, scoring ten points each. Gaetano also led the Pioneers with six assists and three steals.

Yale jumped to early 10-6 and 12-8 leads, the latter with 14:37 left. From there, the Pioneers would go on their largest run of the first half, scoring seven straight to take 15-12 lead, which turned out to be their largest in the contest, with 11:10 showing on the clock. Filip Nowicki capped the flurry with a dunk.

Neither team gained larger than a four point advantage until the 6:10 mark. After a Glowiak triple put SHU up 20-19 with 7:59 remaining, Yale outscored the Pioneers, 11-2, over the next 4:57 to take its largest first half lead, 30-22, with 3:02 on the clock. Duran started the flurry with eight straight points, and Matt Townsend ended it with a layup. Sacred Heart responded the last five points of the half, including a Gaetano triple and a Tevin Falzon layup with 1:11 remaining to make the score, 30-27, heading into the locker room.

The SHU bench outscored the Yale bench, 27-6 for the game, led by Glowiak. Yale held a 15-4 edge in transition.

Sacred Heart will begin conference play on Saturday, as they host preseason favorite St. Francis Brooklyn at 3:30 pm in the William H. Pitt Center. The game will be part of a double header with the women, who tip at 1 pm. The Terriers currently sport a 5-7 record heading into their matchup with Columbia tonight.