M. Hoops Finishes Third in Ivy

Captain Damian Long played the best basketball of his career this season, and his strong shooting performance pinpointed his role as the Harvard men's basketball team's premier shooter in his senior campaign.

On Saturday at Cornell, Long scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Crimson (12-15, 7-7 Ivy) in a 74-60 blowout of the Big Red.

After getting swept in its final home weekend versus Penn and Princeton, Harvard came back and took out both Cornell and Columbia on the road to close out the season. The Crimson escaped with a 61-59 win over Columbia on Friday night and finished the season tied with the Lions for third place in the Ivy League. In what many considered to be a rebuilding year for the team, Harvard finished with an identical conference record as last year, but a worse overall record.

Harvard 74, Cornell 60

Long saved his best for last in the season finale. He hit 10-of-16 shots from the floor, including five three-pointers. He also went a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.

Harvard led almost the entire game and the outcome was hardly in question. The Crimson jumped out to a 22-12 lead midway through the first half on the strength of junior forward Dan Clemente's long-range shooting. However, the backups came in and the Big Red was able to go to the locker room only down four points.

Playing the strong defense that was present all year, Harvard forced Cornell into poor shots and turnovers, similar to the last game these two played, when the Crimson won 67-57 at home. Cornell forward Ray Mercedes, in addition to being outplayed by Clemente, shot only 1-of-7 in the first half on Saturday and had four turnovers. Overall, Cornell turned the ball over ten times in the first half, which led to 12 Crimson points.

"It was a sluggish game overall, but we played some good defense," said sophomore guard Drew Gellert, who leads the team in steals.

Long came out in the second half on a hot streak and built up the Crimson lead. Harvard also turned up the defensive pressure as freshman point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman and Gellert teamed up for nine steals in the game.

Harvard got its biggest lead of the night at 20 points, 71-51, on a running jumper by Prasse-Freeman. Cornell went on a nine-point run to cut the lead to 11, but Long's final shot of his career, from downtown, hit nothing but net as the Crimson got its final 14-point margin. Long also extended his own Harvard record of consecutive games with at least one three-pointer to 25.

Clemente also came up big, scoring 13 points in 29 minutes. Prasse-Freeman had 10 assists and only five turnovers.

Every Harvard player appeared in the game, with freshmen Sam Winter and Brady Merchant each getting 20 minutes of action.

Harvard 61, Columbia 59

The Crimson avenged a 71-65 home loss to the Lions on Friday, when it got the lucky end of a missed buzzer-beater.

The Lions (13-14, 7-7) got to within one point with 54 seconds left. On the ensuing Harvard possession, Long got fouled but hit only one of two free throws. Columbia brought the ball upcourt quickly, but Craig Austin's off-balance jumper with no time left bounced off the rim.

Columbia went into the second half with a 31-28 lead, largely on the play of forward Joe Case. The lead bounced back and forth for the bulk of the first 15 minutes, but Harvard was able to go up by eight, 60-52, with 4:41 left on one of Clemente's two three-pointers.

But the Lions' defense tightened up again, and the Crimson didn't score for the next four minutes. Five free throws by Case and a tip-in by Chris Wiedemann gave the Lions their final seven points.

While Case dominated for Columbia, Harvard's attack was spread out. Clemente finished with nineteen points on 6-of-16 shooting as he played the whole game. Long had 18, mostly on his four three's. Prasse-Freeman had another solid assist-to-turnover ratio game, with eight assists to four turnovers, including 12 points and three steals. Junior center Tim Coleman came close to a double-double, with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Unlike Saturday, the bench was almost non-existent. All five starters played at least 30 minutes, while the bench only had two points combined.

Columbia defeated Dartmouth the next night to finish tied for third in the Ivies with the Crimson. The finish gives Harvard some hope going in to next year, with the four freshmen gaining more experience and Clemente taking control as a senior. However, at least for one night, Long reminded everyone who the real savior was, the player who kept the Crimson afloat while Clemente nursed an eye injury, the senior who sometimes played with four freshmen on the court. Instead of taking the finish with satisfaction, some players looked at the season with less pleasure.

"The Ivy League finish is nice," Gellert said. "But we're disappointed with our overall record. We should have won some more games."

Looking ahead at next season, it seems improbable to believe they won't.