Holy Cross Preys on M. Basketball, 65-57

The Harvard men’s basketball team could not sustain the momentum from its season-opening win over Fairfield last Friday, as it fell to Holy Cross last night in Worcester, 65-57.

Poor shooting—both from the field (21-of-54) and at the foul line (7-of-14)—doomed the Crimson (1-1), who conceded thirteen unanswered points early in the second half and never recovered.

The Crusaders were nearly automatic from the line, shooting 28-of-33 (85 percent) in capturing their tenth consecutive home victory and earning a 2-0 record for the first time since 1992.

Holy Cross struggled from the floor, though, as Harvard put forth a strong defensive effort to hold the Crusaders to 33-percent shooting.

“If we play defense like we did tonight, we should win most of our games,” captain Drew Gellert said.

The game remained close throughout a sloppy first half that featured three ties and four lead changes. But four consecutive free throws before halftime by Crusaders center Nate Lufkin gave Holy Cross a three-point advantage entering intermission.

Harvard had some trouble initially with the Crusaders’ unorthodox match-up zone defense, but seemed to solve it eventually, leading to some open looks that just didn’t fall.

“[The Crusaders’ defense] frustrated us a little bit, but as we got used to it, we were able to generate some openings,” said Gellert.

After the break, Harvard managed to tie the score at 24, but, with 16:37 left, Holy Cross reeled off a 13-0 run spanning just over five minutes. Senior guards Guillermo Sanchez and Ryan Serravalle each hit two field goals to propel the spurt.

Full-court pressure by the Crimson and a pair of baskets from junior point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman enabled Harvard to claw within eight at 45-37 with 7:51 remaining, but Harvard would get no closer.

After junior guard Brady Merchant missed two free throws and Prasse-Freeman missed the front end of a one-and-one, Crusaders’ junior forward Tim Szatko—the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year—hit a three to give Holy Cross back an eleven-point edge.

Szatko (nine points) was not a major factor in the game, although his quiet performance was not due to any specific treatment afforded him by the Harvard players.

“We knew he was a good player, but we didn’t do anything special to try to shut him down,” Gellert said.

Even before the Crimson was forced to begin fouling to stop the clock with time winding down, the Crusaders had significantly more opportunities at the charity stripe than Harvard did, thanks largely to several ticky-tack fouls.

Junior guard Patrick Harvey led Harvard with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including 4-of-9 from behind the arc. Prasse-Freeman also chipped in 13 points, shooting 4-of-8 overall and 3-of-5 from three-point range.

Senior forward Tim Coleman just missed a double-double with eleven points and nine rebounds, including five off the offensive glass.

Serravalle paced the Crusaders with 19 points, while junior center Patrick Whearty came off the bench to gobble up a career-high sixteen rebounds. That total helped Holy Cross outrebound the Crimson, 40-30.

After two games, the Crimson knows the areas in which it will need to improve.

“We played hard, but we didn’t play as smart as we should have. We let them rebound the ball and we didn’t execute our offense as well as we should have,” Prasse-Freeman said.

Harvard will get its next chance to improve in Bethlehem, Pa., when it will take on Lehigh this Saturday.