Clemente's 32 Leads M. Basketball Past Holy Cross, 80-69

WORCESTER--At this rate, it's going to be a prolific season for Dan Clemente.

The junior forward tied his career high last night, scoring 32 as the Harvard men's basketball team used an 18-9 second-half run to outlast Holy Cross 80-69 before 1,343 at the Hart Center.

Clemente, who shot 12-of-26 from the floor and added six rebounds, got strong supporting performances from sophomore point guard Drew Gellert and junior center Tim Coleman, both of whom scored 14.

Clemente started slowly, hitting just one of his first six attempts from three-point range, but finished 6-of-15 from behind the arc. He has now made a three-pointer in 20 consecutive games, a Harvard record.

Clemente, Gellert and Coleman were the offensive keys to the decisive run that gave the Crimson (2-0) a 70-61 lead with just under three minutes to play, an advantage the Crusaders (1-1) could not best.

With the score 52-52 with 7:49 to play, Clemente started the run when freshman point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman, who scored eight points and added four assists, fed him an inbounds pass from under the basket, which Clemente banked off the glass, drawing a foul from Holy Cross's Mark Jerz.

Prasse-Freeman and Clemente hooked up for a deuce on exactly the same inbounds play in the first half.

Clemente made the free throw to give Harvard a 55-52 lead, and a pair of nice low-post combinations by Coleman helped extend the edge to 59-53. Coleman, who has not started either of the Crimson's first two games this season, showed vastly improved mobility in the paint, hitting 5-of-10 shots while giving up several inches to the Crusaders' 7'1 center Josh Sankes.

Coleman mixed a one-handed fadeaway shot with a shoulder-down move to the hole to score four of his 14 points during the 18-9 run.

Holy Cross abetted the Crimson with an offensive meltdown, as point guard Ryan Serravalle, who was a Patriot League All-Rookie Team selection last year, collected his fourth foul with just under 10 minutes to play. Serravalle had eight points and six assists in the first, but managed only two points and three assists in limited minutes in the second.

The Crusaders, with raw rookie Jerz running the floor, turned the ball over four different ways on four straight possessions--they failed to inbound the ball inside of five seconds, traveled, double-dribbled and threw away a pass in the half-court set.

A Clemente three-pointer made it 62-53, and after Holy Cross baskets by forward Patrick Whearty and guard Brian Wilson, Gellert took charge, scoring nine of the Crimson's final 18 points, making 7-of-7 from the line.

Gellert drew Whearty's fifth foul on a breakaway, and made both free throws to increase the lead to 64-56, then caught a 60-foot touchdown pass from Clemente on an inbounds, and made a free throw to open the lead to 67-59.

Clemente answered a Wilson basket with a three-pointer from the right corner to make it 70-61, and the Crusaders were forced to foul the rest of the way. Harvard made 6-of-8 from the line down the stretch to seal the win.

Prasse-Freeman put the exclamation point on the win by stealing an inbounds pass and banking it in with about a minute to play, giving Harvard a 76-65 lead.

Despite being outrebounded 40-35 and allowing the Crusaders to hit 45 percent from the floor and 43.5 percent from three-point range, Harvard forced Holy Cross into 29 turnovers.

Juan Pegues, who scored a career-high 25 points on 7-of-11 shooting and added six rebounds, led the Crusaders.

Notes

Prasse-Freeman, who had a game-high eight assists during the Crimson's 72-43 opening night win against Washington and Lee, added four last night, but turned the ball over six times. But Prasse-Freeman exhibited really uncanny floor sense, delivering his prettiest dish in the first half.

Prasse-Freeman drove the lane with his right hand, elevated and flipped the ball behind his back to Clemente, who was camped out in the left corner for an easy three-point look.

Not only did Clemente mop the floor with the Crusaders, he really mopped the floor.

During a stoppage in the first half, Clemente persuaded the officials to let him wipe down a slick spot on the Hart Center floor with a towel thrown from the Harvard bench.