Harvard Rebounds from Loss, Tops Lions

With its hopes of an Ivy League title nearly washed away following a nine-point loss to Cornell on Friday, the Harvard men’s basketball team could have easily packed it in the rest of the way.

But less than 24 hours after falling two games behind the Big Red in the Ancient Eight standings, the Crimson (18-6, 7-3 Ivy) caught fire in Saturday night’s matchup, exploding to a 77-57 victory over Columbia (9-15, 3-7) at Lavietes Pavilion behind 50-percent shooting from the floor and a career-high 23 points from sophomore point guard Oliver McNally.

“Especially bouncing back from last night with obviously a tough loss...you really worry about a letdown, and I thought our kids gave incredible spirit and energy to start the game and put them on their heels,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “I was very pleased.”

After shooting 20 percent from deep against Cornell, the Crimson lit it up from beyond the arc, knocking down 10 three-pointers on 22 attempts. McNally led the Harvard sharpshooters, hitting five treys on the night and four in the first half alone.

McNally came out firing, and before the first half ended, the sophomore had already surpassed his previous career high of 18 points. McNally tallied his career-matching point with 4:03 left in the half when co-captain Jeremy Lin attacked the basket and then kicked it out to the sophomore, who was spotted up on the perimeter. McNally’s shot sailed through the hoop, giving Harvard the 34-16 lead and McNally a personal 18-16 edge over the Lions.

When the Crimson entered the locker room, McNally had already totaled 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting, with his only miss a three-pointer that rattled in and then out of the basket.

“He was hot,” said freshman point guard Brandyn Curry. “When someone is hot like that, you’ve got to get him the ball. [McNally] was just making shots left and right, and I was just trying to find him. ”

Curry, who replaced McNally in the starting lineup following the Crimson’s loss to Princeton for defensive purposes, turned in a strong performance himself, finishing with seven points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals in 28 minutes.

“That’s a tremendous line for that kid,” Amaker said. “I think his confidence is there.”

Curry led Harvard in its attempt to disrupt the Columbia offense by pressuring the Lions’ guards. The strategy was largely successful, as Curry was able to force a five-second violation early on and then continued to throw off Columbia’s timing throughout the night.

“We wanted to see if we could push up the floor and have good ball pressure and try to take them out of things that they like to run in their sets,” Amaker said.

While the strategy largely paid off, the Crimson’s aggressive style of play did get it whistled for nine first-half fouls, allowing the Lions to keep themselves afloat from the charity stripe.

Columbia even took the 10-9 lead five minutes into the game after Noruwa Agho, who entered the weekend as the Ivy League’s second-leading scorer, sank a three-pointer from the corner.

But Harvard countered with a 15-0 run over the next six minutes to take a commanding 14-point lead that would stay at double digits for the rest of the night.

McNally sparked the run after the Agho three-pointer, receiving a pass on the perimeter from Curry and then knocking down the triple. McNally struck again from deep when Harvard took back possession. Curry pulled down an offensive rebound and then kicked it out to the perimeter, where Lin swung it to McNally, who drained the three-ball, putting the Crimson ahead, 15-10.

“I try to just take shots that are in rhythm that are there,” McNally said. “I don’t try to force anything. In our motion offense we were cutting really hard and when we do that, we get a lot open shots.”

Columbia would not come within striking distance again, as the Crimson lead ballooned to as much as 24 in the second half before settling at 20 at the game’s end.

The victory is the squad’s 18th of the season, one shy of matching the most wins in a season in Harvard history.

“Winning the Ivy’s going to be a little bit tougher,” Curry said, “but we still have a lot of history to make.”

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.