Former Stratford Star Helps Yale End 54-Year NCAA Drought

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- A senior from Bridgeport and a former star at Stratford High School has helped Yale University reach the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for the first time 54 years.

Brandon Sherrod, a Bridgeport resident who played at Stratford High School, helped the Yale University men's basketball team win the NCAA Tournament.
Photo Credit: *Courtesy of Yale University/Sam Rubin*

Tom Renner

03/08/2016 12:30 p.m.

Yale, 22-6, secured an NCAA Tournament berth with a 71-56 win over Columbia on Saturday. Brandon Sherrod scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds in the win for the Bulldogs (22-6). Yale earned the NCAA bid as the Ivy League champion with a 13-1 mark. The Ivy League does not play a conference tournament.

Sherrod was the Connecticut 2010 Gatorade Player of the Year and was the New England Prep School Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2011 after playing at Choate Rosemary Hall. Sherrod missed last year’s basketball season to sing with the Yale Whiffenpoofs, the world’s oldest and best-know collegiate a capella group. Sherrod’s sister, Chynna, was among this year’s finalists for American Idol.

Yale has not made the tournament since 1962, when it lost to Wake Forest. The Bulldogs are 0-4 lifetime in the tournament.

Sherrod has started 28 games for Yale, and averages 12.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He is the team’s third leading scorer and rebounder.

“"It's an amazing feeling," Sherrod said on the Yale men’s basketball website. "It's surreal. I don't think it's really hit me yet. We're just so thankful, so blessed. You can't really script a story like this."

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