M. Basketball Surges Past Brown

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The Harvard men’s basketball team entered Providence on Friday night knowing it could not afford a misstep and exited Pizzatola Sports Center with its biggest league road win in six years—a 64-53 victory over Brown (9-10, 2-3 Ivy).

Sitting one loss away from effective elimination in the hunt for the Ivy League title, the Crimson (9-11, 4-3) used an 11-2 run early in the second half to pull away from the Bears. Harvard cruised down the stretch to its first victory over Brown away from Lavietes Pavilion since February 26, 1999.

“I can’t express enough how big this win was for us,” junior center Brian Cusworth said. “Hopefully we’ll carry [the momentum] over into tomorrow and keep going.”

The Crimson found itself up by only 28-27 at halftime after a sloppy initial frame, but after the two teams traded buckets to start the second half, Harvard’s veteran starters took control of the game.

Cusworth got the Crimson going by scoring a basket inside and adding a jumper after a layup from junior forward Matt Stehle. Brown forward P.J. Flaherty scored to trim the lead to five, but senior guard Kevin Rogus drained a three pointer, and captain Jason Norman capped the run with a spectacular spinning drive and finger-roll, making the score 41-31 with 15:46 to play.

“In the half court sets, when we get into the rhythm of our offense, there’s no team out there that can stop us,” Cusworth said.

Brown cut the lead back down to five following a three-pointer from guard Jason Forte and a layup by guard Damon Huffman. Harvard again responded, however, scoring seven unanswered points to go up 48-36, the last three coming on Rogus’ fourth trey of the evening with 13:00 remaining. The Bears failed to muster a late spurt, never coming closer than nine the rest of the game.

“We had some good offensive rhythm,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “Down the stretch we felt confidant guarding [Forte]...we were able to really do a good job.”

Norman’s defense on Forte, the Ivy League’s leading scorer and incumbent Player of the Year, was a deciding factor in the victory. Harvard’s stopper limited the explosive scorer to 3-of-14 shooting from the field and only 10 points, Forte’s lowest total in league play this year and fourth lowest figure of the season. Norman also stepped up his game on the offensive end, pouring in 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting.

“That matchup worked out terrifically for us,” Sullivan said.

Harvard was led by the superior effort of its low post players, Cusworth and Stehle, who for the first time in several games both had big games for the Crimson. Each contributed a game-high 16 points, and the duo combined to haul in 25 of the Crimson’s 42 rebounds.

“Brian and Matt were just able to get free and get some pretty decent looks at the basket,” Sullivan said. “I think the inexperience of the Brown defenders [was a factor].”

Stehle scored the first four points of the game on wide open shots under the basket, and then added a running layup after a Rogus three to put the Crimson up 9-2.

Brown recovered nicely from that early deficit, however, and took its only lead of the game, 16-15, with 6:39 to play. The Bears were able to stick around despite shooting just 30 percent in the first half mainly because they were able to grab 12 offensive rebounds and force 13 Harvard turnovers.

“Those were the main themes at halftime,” Sullivan said, “trying to cut down on their defensive rebounding, and taking care of the ball better.”

Harvard limited Brown to seven offensive boards after halftime, and committed only seven turnovers following the break. The Crimson was able to stifle the vaunted running game of the Bears, as Brown was held without a single fast break point.

The win was Sullivan’s 150th as Harvard’s coach, and marked the latest the Crimson has been above .500 in league play since the 2001-2002 season. It also kept Harvard on the fringe of the race for postseason play—a fourth loss would eliminate the team from realistically competing for the Ivy championship.

Harvard travels to New Haven to face Yale tonight in another critical road test. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m.

—Staff writer Caleb W. Peiffer can be reached at cpeiffer@fas.harvard.edu.