Harris Breaks Out to Lead Harvard

NEW BRITAIN, Conn.—Bills-Oilers ’91, 49ers-Giants ’01, Mets-Red Sox ’86: all memories of some of the greatest comebacks in sports history.

For Harvard athletics, moments that even compare to these are either non-existent or, at best, few and far between.

Last night, however, in a small gym in New Britain, Conn., the Crimson men’s basketball team did just this, playing a game for the record books. And although it does not hold the same gravity of history’s greatest, the team’s improbable 72-65 18-point comeback victory over Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) was, if not anything else, miraculous.

COMEBACK KIDS

Things looked bleak for the Harvard men’s basketball team midway through the first half.

The game appeared to be over, as Harvard fell behind 29-11 with nine minutes to play in the beginning frame.

But something was stirring in the Derick gym. As the Blue Devil’s offense slowed down, and the Crimson woke up behind the combined efforts of senior center Brian Cusworth and sophomore forward Evan Harris, the stir became a rumble.

And after Jeremy Lin hit a diving jump shot with one second left on the shot clock to tie the game at 50-50 midway through the second half, it was crystal clear: Harvard’s comeback was on.

Before last night, the Crimson’s largest comeback over the past three years came last year in its win at Columbia. The gap the Crimson made up that night: 10 points.

Against CCSU last night, Harvard fought back from an incredible 18-point margin to muster its improbable 72-65 victory.

"It’s a confidence builder, since I’ve been here every time we get down big, we don’t muster much of a comeback," sophomore guard Drew Housmann said.

"But today we kept playing hard."

In the second half, the guards picked up where the big men left off, as Housmann nailed two threes on back-to-back possessions, followed by a running three from captain Jimmy Goffredo to first tie the game at 48-48. After Lin’s running lay-up, sophomore guard Andrew Pusar’s coast-to-coast steal turned lay-up put Harvard up 52-50, and, from that point on, the team never looked back.

EVAN DA MAN

Last night proved to be an up-and-down night for the Crimson.

The team was down 18, fought back to within six, was down 10, and then finally surged ahead.

Despite these highs and lows, one thing did remain constant for Harvard: sophomore forward Evan Harris.

In what may have been the breakout performance of his young career, Harris carried the team in the first half and followed this effort up in the second frame by dominating on both ends of the court.

He finished with a career-high 20 points, throwing in six boards while also grabbing a career-high four steals.

The performance was something Harvard fans have been waiting to see, and last night, in every facet of the game—defense, offense, free throws, and determination—Harris did not dissapoint.

"In the beginning I was attacking, and they weren’t stopping me," Harris said.

"Luckily for us, they didn’t stop me all night."

A HARD RAIN’S GONNA FALL

There are good first halves, and then there are halves that CCSU sophomore Joe Seymore had last night.

Some players catch fire, but it’s often fleeting. Some players, like Seymore, simply give new meaning to the popular NBA Showtime phrase, "he’s on fire!"

This is what happens when a player does not miss a three-point field goal until there is 6:41 left in the first half. And during that half, he shoots five of them.

Suffice it to say that Seymore let it rain last night, lighting up the small Blue Devil court in New Britain by going 5-5 from downtown over the first thirteen minutes of Harvard’s improbable 72-65 victory over his squad.

"We knew we were better than that, especially with one guy destroying us," Harris said. "I looked up at the scoreboard and realized [Seymore] was beating us by himself-—we can’t allow that."

But despite the Crimson’s best efforts, CCSU went as Seymore did, as the team jumped out to a 27-11 lead after his fifth three pointer. Harvard’s determination eventually did pay off, for as Seymore began to struggle, so did the Blue Devils, who allowed the Crimson to storm back to within six by halftime.

Although the half came to a less than perfect end for Seymore, with Cusworth emphatically blocking his final shot of the half, it did not detract from the three-point clinic he displayed earlier.

His rampage began five minutes into the first half, as he received a pass into the right corner and nailed the jumper to tie the game at 9-9.

On the next possession, in the exact same spot, Seymore connected on his second trifecta, this time with a running Housmann contesting.

His next two attempts came from the left side of the arc, putting CCSU up 22-11. And with his fifth shot from downtown, over the outstretched hand of Harvard junior Brian Unger, his fifteen-point outburst was complete, and the Blue Devils were now up 27-11.

But every player, even a Devil, must cool off at some point, and Seymore, who has only averaged 5.3 points in this his freshman campaign, went ice cold after that.

But for 11 minutes Thursday night, he was "en fuego."

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.