M. Hoops Splits Vs. N.Y. Rivals

After a brutal stretch of four consecutive road losses to the best teams in the Ivy League, the Harvard men’s basketball team was looking forward to feasting on a home-cooked meal of traditional Ivy cupcakes Columbia and Cornell.

But the Crimson (11-10, 3-5 Ivy) missed its chance to even its league record, zoning out against the Big Red on Saturday after staving off the Lions the night before.

The loss to Cornell snapped the Crimson’s six-game home win streak.

“We dodged a bullet [Friday] night [against Columbia],” said Harvard coach Frank Sullivan. “And it just came back to haunt us [versus Cornell].”

The lopsided loss to the Big Red (8-13, 3-5) was the Crimson’s worst home effort against Cornell in 10 years and was only the Big Red’s third win in the series in the last seven years.

And though Harvard coasted to an eventual 14-point victory against Columbia (2-19, 0-8), the Crimson went cold in the second half and suffered a scare when its 23-point lead shrank to six.

Despite the disappointing weekend, Harvard will refocus and prepare for its most important homestand of the season this weekend when Penn and Princeton pay a visit to Lavietes Pavilion.

Cornell 82, Harvard 69

Once burned, twice shy. But eleven times?

Cornell stunned Harvard largely on the strength of its pinpoint accuracy from beyond the arc, converting 11-for-19 three-pointers for the game. The Big Red shot a scorching 7-for-9 in the first half alone.

“Our poor field goal percentage against the three was the most devastating element of the game,” Sullivan said.

The three-point barrage was led by Cornell point guard Ka’Ron Barnes (4-for-6), forward Lenny Collins (3-for-4) and forward Cody Toppert (3-for-7). Barnes led all scorers with a career-high 25 points, while Toppert and Collins combined for 26 points and 12 rebounds.

In stark contrast to the success of the Big Red bombers, the Crimson was unable to establish any rhythm in its offense, particularly with its perimeter shooting. A night after drilling 10 three-pointers on 21 attempts against Columbia, Harvard could only muster six long-distance buckets in 28 attempts (21 percent).

“Our execution was not to our standard,” Coach Sullivan said of the offense. “Their defense definitely kept us on our heels.”

Cornell relied heavily on the zone defense against Harvard. The zone has been the Big Red’s strategy of choice for most of the season, Cornell coach Steve Donahue said after the game, because of its general lack of size in the middle.

The Crimson was unaccustomed to facing the zone for so extended a stretch and it showed. Cornell forced 20 turnovers and accounted for 12 steals.

The hot Big Red shooting and the Crimson’s inability to crack the zone allowed Cornell to race out to a 43-28 lead at halftime. After the break, the Big Red continued to pour it on, at one point leading by 20 points.

Harvard would get no closer than 10 the remainder of the night, squandering spurts of momentum with costly turnovers and missed outside shots.

Senior point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman paced the Crimson with 14 points and eight assists.

Harvard 77, Columbia 63

On the strength of an incredible first half, the Crimson was able to overcome a lackluster stretch run to earn a 77-63 victory over Columbia on Friday night.

With 6:45 left in the game, Lions guard Allan MacQuarrie hit his second three in a row to finish off a 24-7 run that saw the Crimson’s lead dwindle from 23 points to just six, 68-62.

“We weren’t pointing fingers,” Prasse-Freeman said. “We were kind of pointing fingers at ourselves. We were just frustrated. We got away from the things that got us that lead.”

Harvard responded and quickly turned things around. The defense tightened as the Crimson held Columbia without a field goal for the rest of the game. Prasse-Freeman and sophomore guard Jason Norman—who started in place of departed senior Patrick Harvey—each hit key shots in the final six minutes to shut the door on the Lions.

Unlike the choppy second half, Harvard dominated the first half due to its accurate shooting and tenacious defense. The Crimson forced 13 Columbia turnovers and outrebounded the Lions at the offensive end of the floor. Harvard made a remarkable nine three-pointers in the half, shooting 64 percent from behind the arc.

The win assured Harvard of its fifth .500-or-better season in the last six years. Harvard has won 13 of its last 16 meetings with Columbia.

—Staff writer Daniel E. Fernandez can be reached at dfernand@fas.harvard.edu