Offensive Outburst Slays Bears

The offensive eruption of the Harvard men’s basketball team on Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion did not cease from the moment captain Jim Goffredo drained a three from the corner on the opening possession until the Crimson had secured a 92-88 victory.

In a game long anticipated as senior center Brian Cusworth’s collegiate finale, the big man led Harvard to attain season highs in several offensive categories as the Crimson (9-9, 2-2 Ivy) scored more than 90 points for only the second time all season in dispatching the Bears (6-13, 1-3).

Cusworth contributed 19 points and three blocks as he showcased remarkable scoring versatility with post moves, jump shots, and even one three-pointer. He was also perfect from the charity stripe, going 4-of-4.

Goffredo led the team’s scorers with 20 points. Having struggled to contribute substantially from behind the arc during the past several games, Goffredo sank 3-of-4 treys in the second half for a 4-of-8 overall performance from downtown.

“The shot felt good, and I knew those looks were there,” Goffredo said. “I just got some open opportunities in the second half, which I haven’t really been getting in the last couple of games—just because of the man-to-man that we’ve been facing.”

Cusworth and Goffredo led an offense that drained a season-high 61.2 percent of field-goal attempts and shot 46.7 percent from behind the arc. Thanks to a fast offensive start, Harvard led by as many as 14 points with 4:36 left in the first half, the Crimson’s largest lead of the game. The half ended with Harvard leading 40-31.

The Crimson’s defense fared well against Brown’s top player. Goffredo and sophomore guard Andrew Pusar, aided by junior guard James Lambert off the bench, contained Bears guard Mark McAndrew, reigning Ivy League Player of the week and sixth-highest scorer in the Ivy League at 14.4 points per game. Though he would finish with 16 points, seven of those came in the final minute, and he shot just 4-of-11 from the floor.

Neutralizing McAndrew early allowed Harvard to build its lead by preventing Brown’s offense from mounting an early run.

“In the tape we watched, he was getting a lot of his open looks on a couple of different plays. We went over those [plays] really well and didn’t let him get those [open looks],” Goffredo said. “We did a pretty good job of helping when he was trying to drive, and we didn’t let him back cut or go into screens.”

Even as the Bears’ defense relied on a mixture of the 2-3 and extended trap zone on defense throughout the game, sophomore guard Drew Housman found gaps in the zone down low or on the wings to tally a season-high seven assists in addition to 10 points.

The Bears opened the second half by stepping up their trap defense to swarm Housman in the back court. Though Housman found the open man often, the trap initially disrupted the rhythm of the Crimson offense. With 7:08 left to play, Brown had capitalized on seven second-half Harvard turnovers to score 12 points off turnovers and narrow the Crimson’s lead to 67-61.

“We weren’t getting as many misses, and so we weren’t in transition as much. We couldn’t go at them and flatten them out in transition,” Sullivan said. “We lost our comfort zone against them.”

With less than one minute to play, the Bears appeared poised to take the lead, as Brown’s three-point shooting finally came to life when McAndrew and forward Colin Aldridge each scored from beyond the arc in a 10-second span to narrow Harvard’s lead to 87-84 with 29 seconds left to play.

The Bears could only resort to fouling to regain possession, but the Crimson responded by efficiently taking care of business, converting 5-of-6 free throws to put the game out of reach.

Although Cusworth fouled out with 1:34 to play and could not end his Harvard career on the court, he left the game to a standing ovation, handshakes from teammates, and a hug from coach Frank Sullivan.

“They finished in an appropriate manner—pressure free throws, taking care of the basketball. I think all that was a good solid finish,” Sullivan said. “If we could have written it any better, we would have wanted to get the guy [Cusworth] a curtain call.”

This victory brought the Crimson’s Ivy League record to .500 as the team enters a the heart of a grueling conference schedule.

Harvard will play its first game without Cusworth against Columbia on Friday night at Lavietes Pavilion. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

—Staff writer Robert T. Hamlin can be reached at rhamlin@fas.harvard.edu.