Prasse-Freeman’s Lone Field Goal Lifts M. Hoops

With 12 seconds remaining in regulation at Fairfield on Friday, the Harvard men’s basketball team saw its two-point lead erased when the Stags’ Kudjo Sogadzi drained a short jumper. But rather than call a timeout to regroup, the Crimson dashed downcourt, seeking to bring the game to an end.

“We don’t usually call a timeout in that situation,” Harvard senior guard Elliot Prasse-Freeman said. “So I busted down the court.”

After captain Brady Merchant failed to convert on a runner and senior center Brian Sigafoos couldn’t sink the put-back, Prasse-Freeman snatched up the loose ball eight feet to the right of the basket. He then drained the game-winning jumper with two seconds left to give the Crimson a 69-67 win.

“[Merchant] kind of got hammered, but they didn’t call it,” Prasse-Freeman said. “The ball just squirted out to me. I didn’t know how much time was left and I shot a running floater from eight to 10 feet. It felt really bad coming out of my hand.”

But it looked really good as it swished through the net, giving Harvard (1-0) its ninth victory in its last 10 season openers.

Prasse-Freeman’s contributions during much of the game were significantly limited due to foul trouble. He played only 19 minutes.

In crunch time, however, he came through. Held scoreless until the 7:18 mark in the second half, Prasse-Freeman drove the Harvard offense for the remainder of the game, scoring seven of Harvard’s final 19 points.

Still, his only field goal of the game was the game-winner. In his limited playing time, he also dished out three assists and grabbed two rebounds.

When Prasse-Freeman was forced to sit, senior guard Pat Harvey played the point. Harvey, who averaged 18.1 points per game last season as the Crimson’s leading scorer, was held to just seven points in the makeshift role.

“It was pretty much [a case of] me having to run point a lot more,” said Harvey, who had three assists and four rebounds during his 36 minutes. “I wasn’t really getting that many opportunities to shoot the ball. And they were face-guarding me all the time so that was tough.”

Sophomore Jason Norman helped to fill the void left by the foul-plagued Prasse-Freeman, playing 20 minutes and scoring four points with three rebounds and three assists.

But it was Merchant who led the way to victory with a team-leading 18 points. His most important bucket of the game came with under five minutes to go, when he drained a three-point shot to put the Crimson ahead 60-59.

While Fairfield (0-1) came back to tie the game twice more after that, Harvard never trailed again.

Senior forward Sam Winter scored 11 points—including the 500th of his career—and pulled down seven rebounds.

Sigafoos, who was hindered last season by a broken foot, appeared to be fully healed Friday. He cleaned up on the boards, garnering a game-high nine rebounds in addition to a pair of blocks and 14 points, 10 of which came in the first half.

He converted on seven of his nine field goal attempts to lead an offense that was incredibly efficient on the evening.

Harvard shot 51.9 percent for the game, making 27 of 52 shots, including 15 of 25 in the second half. On the opposite side, the Crimson held the Stags to just 38.7-percent shooting.

“There was a lot of help [on defense],” Harvey said. “They didn’t get any really good looks at the basket. We played a zone, which kind of took them out of their rhythm in the second half.”

Leading the way for Fairfield was junior center Rob Thomson, who scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

The Crimson nearly let the game get out of hand as the first half drew to a close. With the score at 23 apiece, the Stags went on a 12-3 run to take a nine-point lead at the break.

“We were just sloppy with the ball,” Harvey said. “We had too many turnovers and they made a lot of easy baskets in transition.”

It took Harvard 15 minutes to work its way back into the game and Prasse-Freeman’s heroics to complete the comeback.

The Crimson returns to the hardwood tomorrow night against defending Patriot League champion Holy Cross.