M. Hoops Notches Clutch Ivy Road Win

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The Harvard men’s basketball team entered Providence 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.

Sitting one loss away from effective elimination in the hunt for the Ivy League title, the Crimson (9-11, 4-3 Ivy) used an 11-2 run early in the second half to pull away from the Bears (9-10, 2-3). Harvard cruised down the stretch to its first road victory over Brown since Feb. 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 the end of 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, scoring seven unanswered points to go up 48-36, the last three coming on Rogus’ fourth trey of the evening with 13:00 remaining. Thwarted by the timely shooting of Rogus, who finished with 13 points, the Bears failed to muster a late spurt, and never came closer than nine the rest of the game.

“We had some good offensive rhythm,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “Kevin made a couple big three point shots in the second half that gave us some momentum.”

Norman’s defense on Forte, the Ivy League’s leading scorer and incumbent Player of the Year, was another deciding factor in the victory. Harvard’s stopper limited the explosive playmaker to 3-of-14 shooting from the field and only 10 points, Forte’s lowest total in league competition 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.

“He really had a bead on [Forte],” Sullivan said. “That matchup worked out terrifically for us.”

Harvard was led by the superior effort of its low post players, Cusworth and Stehle, who for the first time in Ivy play both had a big game 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 stuck 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.

“When we got into the half-court sets, and we took care of the ball, we were getting easy baskets,” Cusworth said. “That also cuts down on their ability to play their style of game.”

With Brown’s best player held in check, forward Luke Ruscoe’s 11 points and eight rebounds paced the Bears. But neither Forte nor Ruscoe could reverse the offensive doldrums that Brown entered at the critical juncture of the second half—the Bears shot only 2-of-12 from the floor over the game’s final 8:49, missing their chance to make it a contest.

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.

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