Cagers Miss Shots, Lose to Lowly Yale

Some days, the shots just don't fall.

This fact of life made itself clear last night in the men's basketball team's 62-57 loss to Yale (5-11, 2-2) at Briggs Cage.

Throughtout the game Harvard (6-10, 2-2) was allowed to take all the three point shots it wanted, and the Crimson gladly obliged--21 times.

But of those 21 shots, only four fell, giving Harvard a 19 percent average from beyond the arc and, more significantly, a loss to vary beatable arch-rival at home.

"It wasn't in the game plan to shoot all of those three's," sophomore Darren Rankin (12 points, six rebounds) said." But they gave us the open shots, and we just missed them."

The game began on a good note for the Crimson, who jumped out to an early 16-9 lead thanks to a pair of three pointers by sophomore Michael Gilmore (seven points) and James White (five points).

But then the Crimson stopped hitting the outside shots, and as the Harvard offense stalled, Yale ploughed ahead--eventually establishing a 30-29 halftime advantage.

The halftime gave the Crimson a chance to rethink its offensive strategy.

"We shot more three pointers in the first half than we are used to." Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan said." Yale was playing off our perimeter guys, and we didn't connect on those shots."

As a result, the Crimson came out in the second half trying to do what they usually do--shove the ball inside. With the Eli defense allowing the outside shots, however, getting the ball inside proved to be difficult.

"They really packed it in low," Gilmore said." In fact, it even seemed like the referees let a lot of physical play inside go."

While Harvard was having trouble scoring, baskets came easily at the Yale end of the floor, thanks to a number of second opportunities; the Elis garnered 12 second-half offensive rebounds.

"In the second half, we allowed them to dictate the boards," captain Tarik Campbell (8 points, 8 assist) said. "They got the second shots."

Because of this, Yale slowly increased its lead to 50-38 with only 8:36 to play in the game.

Suddenly, though, the Crimson inside game came alive, in particular the inside game of freshman Kyle Snowden (17 points, eight rebounds). The forward scored 11 points during a 12-2 Harvard run, and the game was tied with 2:26 left.

"They just got me the ball, and I got some contact," Snowden said.

"At the end of the game we were running better offense, and got inside," Sullivan said." Kyle and Darren have let us in scoring most of the year, and these are the people we can go to."

Just when it looked like the Crimson would forge a lead, however, Yale woke up from its late-game slumber to garner the win. Yale star Damon Franklin, who had been kept quiet most of the contest, stole a pass for an easy lay-up and then hit a monstrous 23-foot three point shot to ensure that Harvard would never regain the lead.

The loss left the Crimson a dejected prime contender for the bottom position on the Ivy League totem pole.

"I am really disappointed," Rankin said. "I thought we should have won."