NOTEBOOK: Seniors Honored in Win, Go Out in Style

Saturday’s win over Yale marked the last home game in the career of four seniors—co-captains Jeremy Lin and Doug Miller, Pat Magnarelli, and Dan McGeary.

After giving roses to and taking pictures with family before the game, the four seniors took the court to start (freshman guard Brandyn Curry rounded out the starting five).

“[I was] very happy, as you can imagine, and proud of our seniors,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “I think all four of those kids did some good things for us.”

Lin led the way with 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting, in addition to five rebounds, three assists, and five steals.

In the second half in particular, Lin put on a show with acrobatic lay-ins and smooth jumpers.

After knocking down a three from the top of the key late in the half, Lin backpedaled down court with his tongue hanging out.

“I was just trying to have fun out there. This was my last time playing here with my buddies,” Lin said. “I was just trying to attack, just have some fun, and just be loose.”

Miller, who contributed four points, two rebounds, and a block, also joined in the fun.

Midway through the second half, Lin found the big man sprinting up court, and Miller flushed a two-handed dunk before the Bulldog defense could catch up.

Magnarelli added nine points and a team-high eight rebounds in only his second game since returning from an ankle injury that sidelined him for five weeks.

McGeary played 10 minutes, his most on the season, and scored his first point this year on a technical free throw with 51 seconds remaining in the game.

“I don’t think it could have [gone] any better,” said freshman guard Brandyn Curry of Senior Night. “All of them got in, they all played great, and we got a victory at home.”

“This [game] is one that I’ll never forget,” Lin said. “It’s going to be a lifelong memory.”

HIGHLIGHT REEL

Saturday’s action featured a pair of show-stopping dunks.

The first came with roughly four minutes left in the opening frame. Curry and Magnarelli teamed up to steal the ball from Yale forward Michael Sands in the post, and Lin raced down the floor.

He received the ball along the left sideline and took it hard to the rim where he finished with a one-handed tomahawk slam.

“I was pretty determined to throw that one down,” Lin said. “I hadn’t gotten one in a while, and I thought here’s my chance. I just wanted to...muster enough energy to get up one last time.”

The other noteworthy dunk came with one minute remaining in the contest. Freshman guard Max Kenyi stole the ball from Bulldogs forward Paul Nelson at midcourt and took off with no one in pursuit.

Kenyi jumped off one leg, cocked the ball behind his head, and threw down a violent dunk to punctuate the victory.

“Max has been talking about that for a while,” Curry said. “He’s always talking about, ‘Imma get one this game.’ He got one. He really took off. He threw it down.”

TEAM RECORD

The victory was the Crimson’s 20th on the season, breaking the old record of 19 wins set in 1945-46.

“That’s just a lot of hard work,” Lin said of the milestone. “We’re just glad that we can break records.”

The 1945-46 team was the last squad to make the NCAA tournament.Harvard has similar ambitions this season. Although Cornell has all but wrapped up the league title, the Crimson has a shot at a number of postseason tournaments.

In the more immediate future, Harvard has a chance to tie its record for league wins—11—next weekend when it takes on Penn and Princeton.

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at tjwalsh@fas.harvard.edu.