Crimson Hangs Close With Tigers, But Ultimately Falls

One of the biggest shots of Princeton’s season was drained by its smallest player.

The Tigers’ 5’9 Scott Greenman nailed a three from the right corner with only five seconds left on the shot clock to break a 51-51 tie with just 1:24 remaining in the contest.

Harvard (4-22, 3-10 Ivy) had bounced back from adversity all game, recovering from double-digit deficits early in each half, but finally lost its composure after that clutch shot, missing its final four attempts from the field.

Princeton (18-7, 11-1) cashed in on all six of its free-throw attempts in the final 66 seconds as it pulled away for the 60-51 victory Friday night at Lavietes Pavilion.

“We never get rattled,” said Princeton coach John Thompson III. “We’ve been in so many tight situations against different kinds of teams that we’re used to seeing it and we just have to believe in what we’re trying to do and we have to believe in each other.”

The Tigers appeared to be in control coming out of the intermission, extending their six-point halftime lead to 10 at 30-20 almost immediately.

With the Crimson trailing 36-28, junior shooting guard Kevin Rogus caught fire, draining three trifectas in as many minutes as the Crimson posted a 12-2 run to take its first lead of the contest, 40-38.

Princeton’s Judson Wallace began to assert himself underneath as he finished two layups during the Tigers’ 6-0 run, putting the team up three at 47-44 with 9:08 to go.

But Harvard clamped down, holding Princeton scoreless for the next 5:48.

Meanwhile, the Crimson had scoring woes of its own, as it went more than six minutes without a field goal before Rogus drained his fourth and final three of the half to put Harvard ahead 49-47 with 5:53 to go.

Princeton stifled the Crimson early in the ball game as it jumped out to a 10-0 lead just over five minutes in.

“To give them a 10-spot to start the game and then get a tie game with two minutes to go and be in a position to win is really encouraging,” said Harvard coach Frank Sullivan.

Junior point guard David Giovacchini scored Harvard’s first bucket of the game with 14:37 left in the half, but with just under nine minutes to go before halftime, the Crimson had only added three points as it trailed 16-5.

After Harvard closed the lead to nine, Greenman hit a three to push the Tiger lead back to double digits, 24-12.

Princeton held a 26-15 advantage with 2:18 remaining in the half, but the Crimson scored the last five points before halftime, including a trey by sophomore forward Luke McCrone with 54 seconds remaining to close the gap to 26-20.

“We were very surprised [to be down six at halftime],” Sullivan said. “They were outrunning us down the court and being very aggressive with their offense. So we were surprised that we were able to get within six, and I think it gave the guys a little bit of confidence.”

The six-point halftime gap was hardly indicative of the level of play in the first half as Harvard shot a dismal 20.7 percent in the first half—18.2 percent from three—while Princeton hit at a 42.3-percent clip from the field.

Nevertheless, despite shooting 40.0 percent in the second half, the Crimson finished at a disappointing 29.6 percent for the game—its fourth-worst shooting performance of the season.

“It was more difficult to hang in there because we couldn’t make shots all night,” Sullivan said.

“Sometimes with teams that haven’t done well or young teams, making shots is really your confidence builder and they didn’t have that at all. So, I give our guys credit for sticking it out.”

Wallace continued his recent strong play for the Tigers, scoring a game-high 16 points and ripping down a season-high 12 boards for his first double-double since Princeton’s season opener.

Rogus led Harvard with 15 points on 5-12 shooting from three-point range. The rest of the Crimson squad went just 1-10 from behind the arc.

Harvard made just seven of its 15 attempts from the free-throw line in the second half, including a 2-6 stretch starting at the 9:33 mark during which both sides struggled from the field.

“[Free-throw shooting] certainly hurt us tonight,” Sullivan said.

“In similar circumstances with our win at Cornell [Feb. 21], we were making these free throws down the stretch...It’s one of our poorer [efforts]. You wouldn’t think it would happen at home.”

The Tigers—led by Wallace—dominated the paint by a 14-point margin, 32-18.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.