M. Basketball Edges UNH

DURHAM, N.H.—Despite a minor collapse down the stretch, the Harvard men’s basketball team came through with a 70-65 victory at Lundholm Gymnasium in Durham, N.H.

Though the Crimson (5-3) led by as many as 15 points during the first half, UNH (1-8) outscored Harvard 40-33 in the second half to keep it close. A long three-pointer by the Wildcats’ Shawn Collette knotted the score at 62 with 4:11 remaining.

But junior guard Pat Harvey led a late Crimson run that finished off the Wildcats, scoring six of Harvard’s final eight points. After a flurry of Wildcat three-pointers, Harvey scored one from behind the arc and made three free-throws in the final 1:05 to secure the win.

“If we had lost the game, the story of the game would have been our inability to guard the three in a critical point in time,” Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan said. “And our inability to deal with [UNH’s] undersized line-up.”

The Crimson took the lead quickly, outscoring the Wildcats 37-25 in the first half. Junior Sam Winter led the barrage of Crimson scorers penetrating the UNH defense, scoring nine points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the first stanza while senior center Tim Coleman and junior guard Eliot Prasse-Freeman contributed eight points apiece.

Winter finished with 15 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Harvey led the Crimson with 18 points.

Solid Harvard defense held the Wildcats to a 34.6 shooting percentage from the field. The Crimson also tallied five blocked shots for the half.

Harvard continued its domination through the first eight minutes of the second half, capitalizing on turnovers made by each of the Wildcat tri-captains to amass a 53-39 lead with 12:36 remaining.

But UNH got back on track offensively when guard Roland Williams hit a three-pointer with 12:23 remaining. Tri-captains Austin Ganly and Chris Brown carried the momentum, closing the gap to 57-48 with 9:05 remaining.

That’s when the Wildcats took over from behind the arc.

“Obviously, their three-pointing was very problematic,” Sullivan said. “It got them back in the game. But when we had to make some defensive stands, we did.”

Williams put another three-pointer through the net at 8:49 when Ganly broke out of what had been solid defense to put two in from behind the arc. Tri-captain Assane Faye contributed a dunk to the Wildcat streak off of a pass from Williams from the other end of the court.

During the stretch of UNH scoring, Harvard had been propped up by two jumpers from Coleman, setting the score at 62-59 with five minutes to play.

With just over four minutes remaining, Collette tied the score at 62 in predictable fashion—with a three-pointer.

All was not lost for the Crimson, as Winter made a short jumper to re-take the lead. And from there, Harvey took over, scoring the final six points for a final score of 70-65.

Through the first half, Winter and Beatty had shared defensive duties on Brown, limiting him to 2-of-7 shooting from the floor while Gellert’s watchful defense of scoring threat Ganly held him to three points for the half. Winter attributed Harvard’s success in guarding the main Wildcat threats to preparation and pressure.

“We knew they were trying to go down low to them,” Winter said. “They were spreading the court. It’s partly a credit to the perimeter players having good pressure on the ball; it’s part of their responsibility to keep the ball out of the post.”

Harvard didn’t help itself from the charity line—the Crimson was 10-for-22 for the game.

“Anytime you don’t help yourself from the free-throw line on the road, you should consider yourself lucky to win,” Sullivan said. “Fortunately, UNH experienced the same problems.”

Going into last night’s game, UNH was first in the America East Conference with 74.6 percent free-throw shooting. Ganly led the way, having made 31 of his 32 shots from the charity line this season. Yet tonight, the Wildcats put up a dismal 7-for-22 from the stripe.

With the victory, Harvard avoided a three-game slide and will look to ride that momentum into its Ivy League opener against Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon.