Holy Cross Trips Up M. Hoops, 60-55

One of the most promising seasons for the Harvard men's basketball team got off to an ominous start last night.

It only took one game for an opponent to expose the Crimson's biggest weakness: lack of size.

Holy Cross (1-1) used a strong inside presence to hand the Crimson (0-1) its first opening game loss in eight years last night, winning 60-55 at Lavietes Pavillion.

The Crusaders were led by two of their three biggest players, seven-foot, 275-pound center Josh Sankes and 6'8 forward Tim Szatko. Despite missing almost the entire first half with foul trouble, Sankes scored 14 points and gathered 10 rebounds in just 22 minutes. Szatko came off the bench to lead all scorers with 23 points and 10 boards.

"Anytime you've got two front-court players getting double-doubles against you, it hurts," said Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan.

Shut out of the paint, Harvard was forced to rely on its outside shooting, but unfortunately, the shots just wouldn't fall.

Star captain Dan Clemente struggled shooting throughout the game. Despite leading the team with 14 points, the forward only made 5-of-15 shots and missed 7-of-9 three-pointers. Clemente was unable to create easy shots and mostly settled for quick outside jumpers.

In spite of his poor shooting performance, Clemente did become only the 25th Harvard player to score one thousand points in his career with a first half.

His effort fell far short of last year's performance against the Crusaders, when he dominated the game, scoring 32 points in Harvard's easy 80-69 win.

"He was working too hard to duplicate last year's success [tonight] instead of letting the game come to him," Sullivan said.

"I've never seen Danny shoot like that," said sophomore guard Elliot Prasse-Freeman.

The rest of the team did not fare much better. Perhaps confused by Holy Cross's zone defense, Crimson players missed shot after shot. Only backup sophomore guard Brady Merchant found his range, going 4-of-6 from the field.

"We had open shots, but we just didn't make them," Prasse-Freeman said. "We never could drive the ball to the basket, and we settled for outside shots."

Harvard's shooting woes were complicated by the loss of backup sophomore shooting guard Mike Causey. The TCU transfer who sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules surprisingly quit the team last week for unknown reasons. Causey had been expected to provide a scoring punch from long range.

Yet despite their shooting problems, the Crimson still had a chance to win the game late. Sophomore Onnie Mayshak's layup off a loose ball with just over three minutes left to play capped off a 7-0 Harvard run that put the Crimson up, 55-53. However, Mayshak's points would be the last Harvard score of the game.

On the next possession, Holy Cross forward Tim Szatko made two free throws to tie the game.

Neither team could pull away in the two minutes. Both teams traded missed shots and turnovers amidst generally sloppy play. In one sequence, the teams committed three straight turnovers in 20 seconds.

But in the end, Holy Cross's size paid off. With just 1:54 left, Sankes gathered his sixth offensive rebound of the game and laid the ball in to give the Crusaders a 57-55 advantage.

Harvard's best chance to tie the game came with a minute left in the contest, when guard Andrew Gellert dove for a lose ball under Holy Cross's goal and called timeout lying on the floor to keep possession.

Harvard got the ball into Clemente's hands, but the forward missed a tough mid-range shot. The Crimson got one more opportunity with 30 seconds left when Sankes missed the front end of a one-and-one, but again failed to convert when center Sam Winter airballed a three from the corner. Holy Cross got the rebound and increased its lead to four with two free throws. The game was effectively over.

The Crusader's size and 13 offensive rebounds negated a strong Crimson defensive performance. Using tight man-to-man coverage for most of the game, Harvard harassed the Crusaders into shooting 37.5 percent from the field, including a dismal 9-for-29 in the second half.

"The issue wasn't our defense, which is odd, because it usually is," Prasse-Freeman said.

Harvard was most effective defensively at the beginning of each half. The Crimson held the Crusaders without a field goal for almost seven minutes at the start of the game. After falling behind 34-32 at halftime, Harvard regained the lead by forcing turnovers on Holy Cross's first three possessions.

The Crimson received an unexpected defensive boost from 6'11 sophomore center Brian Sigafoos. Playing in his first collegiate game, Sigafoos helped to slow down Sankes after it looked like the big Crusader center would take control of the game midway through the second half.

In the past, such a strong defensive effort translated into almost guaranteed Crimson victories. Harvard never lost last year when holding the opposition to less than 40 percent shooting, and was 44-2 over the last five years when putting on such strong defensive performances.

This time, the Crusaders made up for their shooting deficiencies by getting to the foul line consistently. Holy Cross made more free throws (13-for-22) than Harvard attempted (8-for-10).

Both teams showed early-season jitters and sloppiness at the game's onset. After five minutes of play, the game was knotted at two and Shankes had already left the game with two quick fouls.

Harvard adjusted to the pace of the game first, taking an early 12-5 nine minutes into the contest. It would be the Crimson's largest lead of the game.

A three by Szatko ignited the Crusaders' offense. Holy Cross slowly chipped away at Harvard's lead, finally using a 16-6 run to take their own seven-point lead, 29-22 late in the first half.

Harvard came back to tie the score early in the second half on a short jumper by Winter. From there, periods of solid play were mixed with long stretches of missed shots and turnovers. As a result, neither team could pull away from the other until the last fateful minutes.