NOTEBOOK: Goffredo Shoots Way to Win

Junior Jim Goffredo christened Harvard’s Ivy League season on Saturday with a career performance, and established himself as the successor to Harvard’s line of talented shooting guards.

Goffredo poured in 33 points to help Harvard (9-5, 1-0 Ivy) sink Dartmouth (2-10, 0-1) by a score of 78-65 in front of 1,463 fans at Lavietes Pavilion. The total was the largest output by an Ivy League player so far this year, and the most points scored by a member of the Crimson since Brady Merchant ’03 dropped 45 on Brown in the final game of his career.

Goffredo’s performance was achieved on 11-of-18 shooting from the field and four-of-four from the free-throw line. He also hit seven-of-12 from three-point range, tying Mike Beam ’99 and Merchant for the second-most three-point field goals in a game by a Harvard player.

“My shot just felt great tonight,” Goffredo said. “The shots were there, and I was making them—great feeling.”

The Crimson was propelled by Goffredo’s sharp shooting in the first half. Back-to-back three-pointers just three minutes into the game helped Harvard open up a 10-0 advantage. Another three with 7:53 left before halftime re-opened the 10 point lead and gave him 17 points, one more than the Big Green had scored to that point. He didn’t cool down in the second half, either, scoring 13 of Harvard’s initial 25 points after the break to lead the Crimson to a 63-45 advantage with eight minutes left.

“Jimmy had a special night, like few players have,” coach Frank Sullivan said. “It was a great thing to see.”

Goffredo’s big game was keyed in part by the return of junior center Brian Cusworth from a hand injury, which put pressure on the interior of a Dartmouth defense that also had to worry about captain Matt Stehle’s post presence.

“When we go back to our game plan of pounding it inside, the opposing team has to pack it in so much that it opens up so many [outside] looks,” Cusworth said. “[Goffredo] did an amazing job of capitalizing.”

BIG CHARITY

Continuing a trend that has been evident throughout the year, the Crimson was much more aggressive in drawing contact and getting to the free-throw line than Dartmouth. Harvard went to the charity stripe 23 times and made 17 free throws, while the Big Green only made five-of-six.

In both halves, Dartmouth committed seven team fouls well before the end of the period, putting the Crimson in the foul-shooting bonus.

“The other team’s shooting the bonus with six, seven minutes to go in the game, and we’re not even close to being in the bonus,” Big Green coach Terry Dunn said. “We’re not getting to the lane, and we’re not getting to the free-throw line. We just didn’t do a very good job of adjusting to the way the game was being called.”

In having to work against bigger interior players in the 7’0 Cusworth and 6’8 Stehle, as well as deal with the driving ability of Housman, Dartmouth players committed 22 fouls to Harvard’s 12 for the game. His team’s inability to guard the attacking Crimson offense without fouling frustrated Dunn, who drew a technical foul for arguing a call midway through the first half.

“I’m going to fight for my kids,” he said. “If I think that there’s some inequity [with the fouls], I’m going to let people know. But did it change the calls? No, I don’t think so.”

Harvard has now shot 325 free throws on the season, 111 more than its opponents, and has converted on 74 percent of its attempts.

STIFLED SHOOTERS

Dartmouth’s two leading scorers are shooting guards Mike Lang and Leon Pattman, who were averaging a combined 22 points a game entering Saturday. Pattman scored nine points, while Lang, who torched Harvard for 24 last year at Lavietes Pavilion, was held to only six points on one-of-eight shooting.

“He shut himself down,” Dunn said of Lang. “Players at this level aren’t going to let you just stand and shoot, so you have to do some other things in order to get a shot. He has a lot more pressure on him this year to make shots.”

POINTS IN THE PAINT

Harvard got 14 points, eight rebounds, a career-high eight assists, three blocks and three steals from Stehle, who nearly collected his first career triple-double. Sullivan said that Stehle is the one player on the team capable of turning the trick...Goffredo now leads the Crimson in scoring average, at 15.2 points a game...Harvard doubled up Dartmouth’s offensive output in the paint, 36-18.

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