M. Hoops Gets Knocked Down, But Gets Up Again

After living through one of the most frustrating and tough losses in the last year, the Harvard men's basketball team rebounded the following day to salvage a weekend split versus Ivy League foes Brown and Yale.

On Friday, an exciting contest against upstart Yale (5-9, 2-0 Ivy) turned into a devastating 85-83 overtime loss for the Crimson (9-6, 3-1), who had pummeled the Elis last year at Lavietes Pavilion.

The Crimson then came back the next night and promptly beat down on a tough Bears (6-7, 1-1) squad in resounding fashion, making the earlier loss to Yale seem more like a fluke. Captain Dan Clemente led the Crimson with 26 points in its final game before exam period.

Harvard 91, Brown 69

Sometimes a tough loss can drain a team for several games. And having to play a game the night after such an emotional defeat can be a tall order.

Harvard 91, Brown 69

And sometimes the losing team just takes out its frustration on the team unlucky enough to be its next foe. That's exactly what Harvard did to Brown Saturday night, as the Crimson mauled the Bears, 91-69, behind a dominating second-half performance.

"The guys really responded well," Clemente said. "We played a little angry tonight."

The contest was decided early in the second half. After Brown guard Earl Hunt's low-post basket tied the score at 45, Harvard went on a 25-6 run over eight minutes to break the game wide open.

"When we get on rolls like that, everyone can feel it," said sophomore forward Sam Winter. "It's mostly just defense and rebounding, which builds up our confidence."

As usual, Clemente led the Harvard charge. The senior forward scored all 15 of his second-half points during Harvard's decisive run, including three long-range three-pointers. His last three-pointer--coming from the top of the key after Winter's shot was blocked right to him--gave the Crimson a commanding 70-51 lead.

"To see him come out and really get off was really positive," said Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan.

While Harvard was sinking shots from all over the court, Brown simply could not make a field goal. A combination of terrific Harvard defense and some back luck on shots accounted for the Bears' offensive woes.

Most of the Crimson's second-half success can be attributed to its ability to slow down the pace of the game. After a hectic first half that played right into Brown's style of play, Harvard made the game a half-court contest, and Brown found it extremely difficult to get open looks.

"Our guys in the second half did a superior job of contesting shots," Sullivan said. "We really tried to slow the rebounder and challenge the outlet pass."

Brown's collapse might also be due to fatigue. After an emotional road win over Dartmouth the previous night, Sullivan said the Bears might have worn themselves out running up and down the floor.

"Fatigue was definitely a factor," Sullivan said. "I didn't think they'd run out of gas, but they did."

The fatigue factor definitely hit Hunt, who, after a stellar first half, struggled mightily from the field in the final stanza. Hunt often had open looks at the basket, but just could not convert on his shots as he had done in the opening half.

The last ten minutes of the game featured some sloppy play by both teams, as Brown never got closer than 16 points the rest of the way. The one highlight of the latter stages of the game was an electrifying one-handed tomahawk jam by Winter which brought the crowd to its feet.

The beginning of the game offered few clues as to the final score. Brown controlled the game for most of the first half. The Bears pushed the ball up the court after every missed shot by Harvard, trying to turn every possession into a fast break. The Crimson struggled on transition defense and repeatedly left Bear players found themselves with easy lay-ups or open jumpers.

Brown looked most often to Hunt, who, when he wasn't left open in transition, beat Crimson junior guard Andrew Gellert for 16 first-half points and four rebounds.

Harvard looked out of sync trying to adjust to Brown's up-tempo attack. Sophomore point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman struggled to control the pace of the game, finishing with four fouls and four turnovers in the first half, as Harvard often forced up quick shots rather than settling into its offense.

"I think [Prasse-Freeman] was frustrated by [Friday's] game against Yale," Sullivan said. "He was really trying, but he was really pressing."

Only 15 Brown first-half turnovers kept Harvard close. Still, when Bears center Shaun Etheridge was left open for another easy lay-up in transition, giving his team a 33-27 lead with 6:40 left in the half, a visibly upset Sullivan called timeout.

Whatever advice he gave his team worked perfectly.

The Crimson came out of the timeout on a roll, scoring the next seven points on route to an 18-5 run. Harvard limited Brown's fast-break opportunities by making shots, and it shut down the Bear's half-court game through stifling man-to-man defense.

The spurt was highlighted by a spectacular lay-up by sophomore guard Pat Harvey. Harvey got caught amongst several taller bodies while driving into the lane. He heaved the ball at the backboard while off-balance, and the ball hit the very top of the backboard before somehow finding its way into the net.

Harvey's basket gave Harvard a 45-38 lead, and the Crimson held a 45-41 advantage at halftime. More importantly, Harvard entered the locker room with a momentum boost it would never relinquish.

Yale 85, Harvard 83 (OT)

In the season's most thrilling game thus far, the young Bulldogs squad used everything in its arsenal, from free-throw shooting to clutch defense, to upset the Crimson at home Friday night, 85-83 in overtime.

Yale 85, Harvard 83 (OT)

A back-and-forth struggle finally ended when Prasse-Freeman missed a three-pointer from the left side of the court that would have won the game. Twenty seconds earlier, Yale forward Ime Archibong hit an uncontested lay-up that put the Bulldogs up for good.

"It was a well-played game, I just thought we couldn't stop Yale when we had to get stops," Sullivan said. "We couldn't stop them in the first half, couldn't stop them in the second half, and we couldn't get stops in overtime."

The Harvard defense had trouble all night against the Elis, who shot 53.1 percent from the floor and 47.4 percent from beyond the arc. Archibong scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting for the game and sophomore point guard Chris Leanza, despite having eight turnovers, led all scorers with 22 points, including a perfect 4-of-4 from three-point range.

Yale, however, had a young team which included seven freshmen and five sophomores on the roster. Its inexperience under pressure let Harvard slowly back into the game in each half. After falling behind 23-12 in the first half, the Crimson used an 8-0 run and good shooting by Harvey, who finished with 19 points, to pull ahead 36-34 at the half. In the last 8:10 of the half, Yale had only one field goal, a Leanza three-pointer, while the rest of the Eli points came from the charity stripe.

It was Yale, however, that came out strong to start the second half, and quick inside scoring gave the Elis a 49-40 lead only four minutes into the second stanza. The Crimson, however, had its own inside presence. Sophomore center Brian Sigafoos, only several games removed from a concussion, had his best game yet, scoring 15 points, picking up 10 rebounds and blocking four shots in 27 minutes.

Harvard tied the score at 61 with 7:30 remaining, and the rest of the game was a fight. Winter scored four straight points to put the Crimson up 67-64, but Harvey hit only one-of-two free throws to put the Crimson up by four. Finally, Sigafoos hit two more to give Harvard a comfortable six-point margin with less than three minutes left in regulation.

Yale Captain Neil Yanke and guard Paul Vitelli hit lay-ups to drop the lead to two, and after an Eli steal the Crimson fouled Leanza. He hit only one-of-two to cut the score to 70-69. Sigafoos was then fouled in the lane, and hit one-of-two free throws with 28.7 seconds left. The Crimson, letting Yale slip back in the game again, fouled Leanza with twenty seconds left, and the guard hit both shots to tie the score at 71 apiece. A final desperation jumper by Harvey missed, and the teams headed to overtime.

Once again, Yale jumped out to a lead on free-throw shots, and once again Harvard rallied late only to shoot itself in the foot again. Harvey hit a three-pointer and sophomore guard Brady Merchant dunked and hit a three-pointer, but Gellert made only two of his six free throw attempts, setting the stage for the final minute of overtime.

Free throw shooting had never been a Crimson strength. Yale's success at the line (82.8 percent) may have proved the difference down the stretch versus Harvard's dismal 67.7 percent shooting from the stripe.

"Their ability not only to score but to make their free throws were significant factors in the game," Sullivan said. "We're a bit disconcerted by the fact that we didn't shoot the ball well and again I give Yale a ton of credit."

Notably absent from the Crimson attack was Clemente, who had torched the Elis for 18 points last season when the Crimson defeated Yale 70-51 at Lavietes Pavilion. On Friday, the star forward played only 24 minutes, hitting 1-of-7 three pointers while in foul trouble most of the evening. Several close calls went against him and he fouled out with 4:35 left in the second half.

"The referees have been told to cut down on hand-checking, I thought we were a step slow defensively tonight, and we were putting our hands on people way too much," Sullivan said, noting that Sigafoos and Winter also fouled out later in the game.

Yale defeated Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. on Saturday and is tied with Penn and Princeton at 2-0 in the Ivy League. Harvard, right behind at 3-1 in conference play, takes some time off for exams and plays Hartford on Jan. 29th before traveling to Cornell and Columbia to continue Ivy play.