A trio of freshmen led Yale to a 90-54 drubbing of Long Island University Wednesday night in Brooklyn, N.Y. It was the largest margin of victory over a Division I opponent for the Elis since 1949.

Mark Lovett ’05 came off the bench to lead all scorers with a career-high 16 points as Yale improved to 5-4 and LIU dropped to 0-4.

Yale’s all-freshman backcourt poured in 29 points, with off-guard Edwin Draughan ’05 netting 15 points, and point guard Alex Gamboa ’05 scoring 14 and dishing out seven assists. Captain Ime Archibong ’03 rounded out a group of four Elis in double figures with 13 points.

Down by a bucket, 21-19, eight minutes into the game, Yale closed out the first half on a 19-7 spurt to take a 38-28 lead into the locker room. The Bulldogs picked up where they left off in the second half, bursting out of the gates with 23-5 run that gave Yale a 61-33 lead as the Elis cruised to victory.

Lovett and Paul Vitelli ’04 each went three for five from 3-point territory as the Elis connected on nine of 22 attempts from beyond the arc. In stark contrast, LIU made only two of 20 3-pointers.

The Bulldogs also outrebounded the Blackbirds 50-31.

Over the years, the Elis have beaten a number of non-Division I opponents by more than 36 points, but not since a 40-point win over Harvard on March 10, 1949, had they defeated a Division I school by more than 36 points. In that game, the Elis bludgeoned the Crimson 87-47 at the Boston Arena.

–Jeremy Licht