M. Hoops Has Disappointing Showdown at Saturn Shootout

The Harvard men’s basketball team finished up December with a win and two losses, defeating Long Island 78-60 before dropping both games in the Saturn Shootout holiday tournament in Charleston, S.C.

TENNESSEE TECH 98, HARVARD 93 (OT)

CHARLESTON, S.C.—Senior guard Kevin Rogus just couldn’t make No. 8 fall.

Trailing 96-93 with 23 seconds to go, the Crimson (5-8, 1-0 Ivy) raced up the floor and spent a 30-second timeout. Harvard worked the ball around to Rogus, who was 7-for-13 from behind the arc to that point, but he failed to connect with 11 seconds remaining, and Tennessee Tech (5-6) held on for the 98-93 victory in the consolation game of the Saturn Shootout at John Kresse Arena on Dec. 30.

Rogus finished with a season-high 27 points on the evening, just two points short of his career-high, and tied a career-high with four steals.

“He played great,” captain Jason Norman said. “Everybody got him open looks. We were swinging the ball real well and he was knocking down shots.”

The Crimson trailed by four with just over two minutes remaining in the extra session, when sophomore guard Jim Goffredo connected for his second trifecta on the evening. On the subsequent possession, Rogus worked his way to the top of the arc and nailed his seventh three of the contest to knot the score at 93 before being bowled over by a Golden Eagle defender.

Senior point guard David Giovacchini scored the first five points of the overtime for Harvard and finished with 12 on the game.

The Crimson dodged two bullets late in regulation while trailing by three, as Tennessee Tech corralled a loose ball. But Harvard tied it up and the Crimson ran down a blocked shot to retain possession. Harvard launched two threes, missing both, but junior forward Matt Stehle tipped the second in to pull the Crimson within one, 81-80. Golden Eagles forward Willie Jenkins hit one of his two free throws, giving Harvard one last chance with 4.8 seconds remaining, trailing 82-80.

Goffredo drove the lane and missed a runner long, but junior forward Matt Stehle tipped the ball, and it banked in with just 0.2 left in regulation.

“I actually thought time had already expired,” Stehle said. “So I was just tipping it up, and I was really lucky. I got a good roll on the rim, and it fell perfectly.”

The desperation tip-in gave Stehle 22 points on the evening—a season-high and tied for his career best. He also tied career-highs in assists (five), blocks (four) and steals (four) and finished one rebound shy of a double-double.

COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 85, HARVARD 62

CHARLESTON, S.C.—The College of Charleston (6-3) pummeled the Crimson 85-62 in the first round of the Saturn Shootout on Dec. 29.

The game was Harvard’s first since Dec. 22, and during the opening minutes of the game, the Crimson seemed like it was still on vacation.

“A lot of it was rust,” Norman said. “But when the crowd gets involved like that, it’s tough—they gain a lot of momentum.”

After bellicose griping about foul calls, spectators chanted “we want wings” as the last seconds ticked off the clock—a local grill gives the tasty chicken treats away if the Cougars win and score 88 points or more. But a trio of missed three-pointers from Charleston ensured that the rowdy fans would go home hungry while Harvard went back to its hotel with a humbling loss.

“For the crowd to be screaming like that, it’s kind of embarrassing,” Norman said.

With sophomore Brian Cusworth still injured, the Crimson couldn’t get its offense off the ground. Harvard’s shooting from the field improved once the game was beyond its reach, but its shooting woes started early as it sunk 8-of-27 (29.6 field goal percentage) in the first half.

At halftime, Harvard found itself down 47-30, the Crimson’s second-worst halftime deficit this season.

“On offense, most of our guys really had trouble finding their natural game tonight at all positions,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said.

Stehle led Harvard with 12 points.

HARVARD 78, LONG ISLAND 60

NEW YORK—In diving for a loose ball late in the second half, Rogus had his shorts yanked from his hips. But against Long Island University in Brooklyn on Dec. 22, a well-prepared Crimson team was far from being caught with its collective pants down.

Harvard jumped out to an early lead it never surrendered, besting the Blackbirds 78-60 in a rare road win.

Long Island (4-4) was consistently flummoxed by a tenacious Harvard defense that showed an uncustomary front which forced long shots and turnovers.

“I think the big thing that helped us was the zone defense,” Sullivan said. “We haven’t played that much zone in any game this season, but it just looked to be an effective way of approaching this game. I think the zone really jump-started us in a lot of ways.”

The Crimson held the Blackbirds—a perimeter-oriented squad that usually starts three guards—to a meager 41.8 percent shooting from the floor and just 3-of-17 from behind the arc. On top of that, Long Island committed 22 turnovers, including a season-high 16 Harvard steals.

The Blackbirds’ leading scorer James Williams led all players with 16 points, but struggled at times, shooting 1-of-7 from long range.

While the new defensive strategy and another solid night on the backboards for the Ivy League’s leading rebounding team gave the Crimson much of the possession, it fell to the offense to convert.

“Any time you’re on the road, you’re always worried, ‘Are you going to score points?’” Sullivan said. “Offensively we got into a good rhythm.”

That pattern allowed the Crimson to build an early advantage, extending the margin to 24-12 after an 8-0 first-half run, and it went into the locker room with a comfortable 37-27 lead.

—Staff writers Samuel C. Scott and Jonathan J. Lehman contributed to the reporting of this article. —Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.