Harvard Tops Columbia To Stay in Ivy Race

NEW YORK—Just one hurdle remains in Harvard’s five-game Ivy roadtrip, as the Crimson topped Columbia 69-59 last night in Levien Gym.

Harvard fell behind by as many as ten early on, but pulled to within one by halftime. The two sides went back and forth out of the intermission, before a 20-8 Crimson run over an 11 minute span of the second half staked Harvard to a 67-57 lead.

Freshman point guard Drew Housman accounted for seven points during the run, including a 5-for-5 performance from the stripe. He also recorded one of the best individual efforts of the night, poking the ball away from Columbia forward Dragutin Kravic, racing down the court, and finishing a tough layup, as Kravic mauled him. The three-point play gave the Crimson a six-point lead, its biggest to that point.

Housman finished the game with 20 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and hit 10-of-11 attempts from the line.

Matt Stehle overcame the flu and early foul trouble to score 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting. His first basket of the game gave him 1,000 points for his Harvard career. He also pulled down six rebounds and dished out three assists.

Ivy League leading scorer Jim Goffredo had a tough night, hitting just 3-of-12 shots and just 2-of-8 from three. His 4-for-4 performance from the line push his point total to 12 on the game, making it nine consecutive games in double-figures.

Harvard returns to action tonight against Cornell in Ithaca.