Close Contest Escapes After Princeton Flurry

PRINCETON—Despite a Harvard coaching change, Penn losing last year’s two All-Ivy Leaguers, and Princeton finishing the 2006-2007 Ivy season in last place, the “Killer P’s” still have the Crimson’s number on their home courts.

In what was supposed to be its best chance to knock off the two squads in years, the Harvard men’s basketball team (6-14, 1-3 Ivy) followed up its Friday night loss to the Quakers with a 68-54 loss at Princeton (5-12, 2-0 Ivy) on Saturday night.

The Tigers used a barrage of three-pointers and a late run to pull away from the Crimson, handing Harvard its 19th consecutive loss at Jadwin Gymnasium. The team’s last victory there was in 1989.

Trailing by just five, 58-53, with 2:05 to play, Harvard was outscored 10-1 in the game’s final two minutes, missing three three-point attempts during that stretch and failing to capitalize at the free throw line.

“That’s been our problem all season, we pretty much stay close to about the two-minute mark, then something happens where the other team pulls it out,” sophomore guard Jeremy Lin said. “That just comes down to consistency. We have to be solid every single possession, take care of the ball every single possession. That’s just something we have to work on. I don’t really know how to explain it.”

Harvard was down by just three with 4:37 remaining but despite being in the double bonus, made just 3-of-7 free throws in that final stretch. After a perfect 8-for-8 in the first half, the Crimson finished just 12-of-20 from the charity stripe.

“I clearly thought that our inability to cash in from the foul line—which was the second night in a row—that I thought really hurt us in critical stages,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said.

Princeton rode the brilliant outside shooting of two of its best to stay close in the first half, and to pull away in the second.

Tiger senior Kyle Koncz started hot, nailing five three-pointers in the first half en route to 21 points before the intermission. While Princeton opened up a lead as large as six early, the Tigers trailed 33-31 heading into the locker room.

The second half was an even bigger back-and-forth battle, featuring seven lead changes. But, this time, it was Princeton sophomore Lincoln Gunn who took over, nailing four treys and scoring all 17 of his points after halftime.

“I thought that was the difference in the game—their ability to make the three-point shots, and certainly Kyle’s five in the first,” Amaker said, adding later, “I thought Lincoln did a heck of a job making some tough ones at the end of some of the possessions, kind of back-breaking shots, deflating shots for us, and I think very uplifting shots for them.”

The duo combined their efforts in the game’s final minutes to slowly pull away. With Harvard leading 49-48, Gunn took a pass from Koncz and nailed a three to put the Tigers ahead. After Lin was called for a charge on the other end, Gunn drove the lane and scored from the right side.

On the next possession, Gunn handed it off the Koncz at the top of the key, then screened his man, giving Koncz an open look. He drained the three—his only points of the second half—to finish with a game-high 24 points and to put Princeton up 56-50 with 4:09 to play.

Gunn’s final three with 1:35 to play to put the Tigers up, 61-53, sealed it.

For the Crimson, Lin finished with team highs of 17 points and nine rebounds, keeping Harvard close with multiple runners in the lane before Princeton’s final run. Lin gave the Crimson its final lead, at 49-48, on a nice baseline drive. He converted the reverse lay-up and was fouled, but he missed the free throw.

“Jeremy has been one of the key guys for us offensively, creating the offensive attacking drives and getting to the foul line,” Amaker said. “He’s a player that right now can make a play off the dribble. He’s been pretty consistent with that all year for us.”

“Coach has been telling me that the hustle plays make your offense a lot easier,” Lin said. “So I was just trying to get us going and kind of play with energy, basically.”

Captain Brad Unger had his second straight strong performance, finishing with 11 points and seven boards.

With the win, Princeton moved to 2-0 in the Ivy League, matching its total in Ivy wins last season, having finished 2-12.

After the frustrating weekend, Harvard must now turn its sights to the rest of Ivy League play, which continues at Yale and Brown next weekend.

“Yeah it has been a tough weekend,” Amaker said. “But as I told our kids, it’s a long horse race and if we can keep our heads up and keep improving and keep battling, maybe the tide will turn for us.”

—Staff writer Kevin C. Reyes can be reached at kreyes@fas.harvard.edu