Crimson Snaps Losing Streak With Narrow Victory Over Brown

On Saturday night, all of Lavietes Pavilion knew who would have the ball for the Crimson with the game on the line.

Junior Jeremy Lin has been the hero for Harvard game in, game out this season. Against Brown (6-14, 0-6 Ivy), it was more of the same, as the Ivy League Player of the Year candidate scored his 27th point when it mattered most—with zero seconds remaining on the clock—as his final free throw propelled the Crimson to a thrilling 64-63 comeback victory.

The surprise of the night: Harvard (10-10, 2-4 Ivy) would never have been in that position had it not been for the effort of a senior—who has been injured since December with a knee strain—and his sensational effort.

In the play of the night, senior Evan Harris, bad knee and all, rose up for a thrilling block to deny Brown’s offensive MVP, junior center Matt Mullery, from getting his 29th point.

In the final three minutes of play, the Bears called Mullery’s number on every possession, feeding him in the deep post. With good position, Mullery tallied four points and set up an open three, as Brown took a 63-61 lead.

After Lin went down the court and nailed two free throws, one of them the front end of a one-and-one, to tie the game at 63-63, it was Mullery time again—the whole crowd knew it, and so did Harris.

“It was just pure instinct. There was a timeout before, and coach Wade told me, this is what you have been working for,” Harris said. “I worked my tail off to get here.”

Sure enough, the ball went down to the post, and Mullery looked to have position set for the lay-up finish. Out of nowhere, the injured Harris flew above Mullery and the rim, swatting his shot attempt cleanly to the top of the key. It was one of the biggest blocks of the season, and considering Harris did it with an injured knee, it proved all the more dramatic.

“It was up to me to do something, and I was just happy I could get high enough and my knee held up to get up there,” Harris said.

“We were hoping that eventually we could make a stand,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker added. “Evan made a tremendous play, timed it, and sized it up very well.”

The ball kicked out to the top, but with just fifteen seconds to play, the Crimson blew a transition opportunity, only to see the ball get kicked out to Lin with seven seconds to play. The rest was Crimson history, as the drive, pump fake, foul, and free throw completed an astonishing 11-point Harvard comeback over the last ten minutes of play.

“I was staying aggressive and trying to attack the defense,” Lin said. “On the last play, I knew I couldn’t get to the basket, I tried to go left to right crossover for a pull-up. But he was there with me, so I pumped him and got the foul.”

After the referees conferenced to confirm that the foul had occurred before time expired, Lin stepped to the line—by himself—needing to make one of two to seal the win. The first went up, rolled around for a split second, and then slid in, as the team stormed the court to embrace its clutch star.

“I just didn’t think, and I just went up there and focus on my routine and shoot the ball,” Lin said. “I got lucky with that roll at the end.”

Lin was unconscious on the offensive end in the second half, tallying 22 points to close the game. The stats are staggering: 7-of-10 from the field, 3-of-4 from downtown, and 5-of-5 from the stripe.

Mullery, for his part, finished with 27, notching 21 of them in a dominating second half effort that saw the big men answer Lin every time down the court. But for Harvard, that one point between the two stars’ second half totals was all the difference.

“What can you say about Lin, the way he has been playing for us,” Amaker said. “He’s willed us to some victories with his play sometimes this year, and that was evident tonight…[on the last play], we’ll go with that all day, and twice on Sunday, with Jeremy.”

After a miserable first half performance that saw the Crimson fall behind 32-20 to the Bears, a repeat of Harvard’s poor showing against Yale a night before seemed inevitable. The team shot 30 percent from the field and tallied nine turnovers in that first frame.

But the second half was a different story, as the squad shot 52 percent from the field, limited itself to two turnovers, and picked it up on defense.
In the first four minutes of play, behind a pressing defense, big shots from the likes of senior Andrew Pusar—who finished with 10 points—and of course, the leadership of Lin, Harvard posted an 11-0 run to draw within three at 36-33.

Brown stretched the lead back out to 11 at 50-39 with ten minutes to play, but from that point, the comeback was on, as the Crimson, with Lin driving the team, stormed back, salvaging the game, and perhaps the season.

“We weren’t able to score against Yale, just couldn’t put the ball in the basket, and tonight, we still had trouble guarding their bigs, but then on the other end, we were doing pretty well.” Amaker said. “We made some shots to keep their energy up to allow us to get to the end game situation.”

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