Harvard Continues Strong Play, Tops GW

With his team down by a single point nearing the end of the first half, co-captain Jeremy Lin stood at the free-throw line, a wad of tissue paper stuffed in his nostril to prevent blood from trickling onto the court.

Moments ago, Lin had come up with a steal near midcourt and barreled to the basket, where he was met by George Washington’s Dwayne Smith. The collision sent Lin to the Harvard trainer, who soon got the bleeding under control.

But Lin calmly walked to the charity stripe, where he sank both free throws to give the Crimson a one-point edge.

The Harvard men’s basketball team (9-3) would never trail again en-route to its 66-53 victory over George Washington (9-3) in front of a packed crowd at Lavietes Pavilion last night.

“I just got hit,” Lin said. “I didn’t even know if I was bleeding or not so it wasn’t a big deal.”

Lin continued to prove that the setback did not faze him just moments after his second free throw sailed through the net.  The Colonials Tony Taylor tried to bring the ball up the court for his team, but Lin came away with his fifth steal of the half. The 6’3 guard raced down the left sideline before crossing over to his right and thundering home a dunk that gave his team a three-point advantage with 56 seconds remaining in the period.

The Crimson’s defense on the ensuing possession forced George Washington to take a hurried shot as the shot clock expired, but Travis King got the deep ball to fall, knotting the game at 35.

Lin moved the ball across half court and waited for the final seconds of the half to tick away. As the clock approached zero, Lin launched a three-pointer from three feet beyond the arc that touched nothing but net and sent the Harvard players into a frenzy heading into the locker room.

“That’s Jeremy being Jeremy,” said freshman Kyle Casey, who finished with a career-high fifteen points and five rebounds. “He’s a clutch player. It was a big time shot. It definitely gave us the momentum going into the second half. He’s the leader of our team and he stepped up and knocked it down.”

The Crimson carried its momentum into the second half, going on a 13-2 run to open the period. Harvard’s defense held strong throughout the half, limiting the Colonials to just 18 points.

The Crimson only managed 28 points, shooting just one-of-nine from deep in the second half, but it was good enough to earn Harvard the 13-point victory—a drastic turnaround from last year’s 15-point loss to George Washington on the road.

“What a tremendous home win for us against a team that’s been playing really well—a tough team to prepare for and to play against,” head coach Tommy Amaker said. “I told our kids that I was impressed with how they handled this game. Just the way they were able to fight back and make a game of it in the first half.”

The win marks Harvard’s first victory over an opponent from the Atlantic-10 conference since the 1980-81 season when the Crimson defeated Massachusetts.

And it certainly did not come easily for Harvard.

The Colonials jumped out to an early 11-2 advantage, using their pressure defense to force Crimson turnovers early on. Alternating between full court pressure and a three-quarter-court trap, George Washington forced four turnovers on Harvard’s first six possessions.

“Initially we didn’t respond very well,” Amaker said. “They definitely are quick; they trap and get up in you and try to turn you over and speed you up.”

But the Crimson took control of the game, sending out a slew of lineups with such strong ball handlers as Lin and sophomore and rookie point guards Oliver McNally and Brandyn Curry. The three managed to control the tempo of the game and slowly cut into the deficit.

Harvard tied the game for the first time with over five minutes to play in the opening frame off a Casey free throw, but was unable to convert on its next three shot attempts and the Colonials took back the lead.

Casey gave the Crimson its first advantage at the 3:45 mark, but again George Washington regained control. It was not until Lin’s three-pointer to close out the half that Harvard would maintain its advantage.

While Amaker described Lin’s play as tremendous—he finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, seven steals (a career high), and five assists—the team’s leader was quick to defer praise to his teammates.

“Anyone who watched the game knew it was a huge team effort,” Lin said. “There wasn’t any one person who was doing anything special.”