Harvard Men's Basketball Tops Seattle, Enters Top 25 Contention

The Harvard men’s basketball team appears destined for the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in program history.

With the Crimson’s 80-70 victory over Seattle University Sunday afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion, Harvard (8-0) likely secured itself a spot in the national rankings, which will be released Monday afternoon.

“Obviously it would be a neat thing if it happened for us,” said Crimson coach Tommy Amaker, who earned his 250th career head coaching victory with Sunday’s win. “I know our players would be very excited, and I would be very, very proud of them if that were to take place. If not, the sun would come up, and we’ll have somebody to play and get ready for the next one.”

On Sunday, Harvard was led by a breakout performance from freshman forward Jonah Travis, who notched 19 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and two steals, all career-highs. The rookie worked in an efficient manner, shooting 6-of-8 from the field in 19 minutes off the bench.

“Jonah is a monster—one of the hardest-working players I’ve ever seen,” said junior point guard Brandyn Curry. “[He’s] relentless on the boards—always attacking. He’s just a beast. He gave us a lift that we definitely needed against this team.”

Travis wasn’t the only reserve to step up for the Crimson. Rookie Steve Moundou-Missi added a career-high eight points and six rebounds in 27 minutes playing in place of junior Kyle Casey, who struggled with foul trouble.

Sharpshooting sophomore Laurent Rivard finished second on the team in scoring, posting 14 points on 3-of-8 shooting in 23 minutes off the bench.

“We are gaining a great deal of confidence in our young players and our bench in particular,” said Amaker, whose bench outscored Seattle’s, 46-22. “I think we have good balance on our team.”

The Crimson, which led by 12 at the half, extended its lead to as many as 17 with 14:41 to go after sophomore Rivard took a handoff from Travis at the top of the key and buried a three-pointer. But the Redhawks (2-4) managed to fight their way back into the game, as Seattle’s Clarence Trent (14 points) went on a personal 7-0 run to bring the visitors back within single digits, 58-49, with 11:26 to go.

“They just came out really hard, and I don’t think we were as prepared as we should have been for how fast and how hard they were going to go at us,” said Curry of Seattle, which posted more points against the Crimson than any of its previous opponents.

Led by Curry, Harvard answered. The junior scored six points in less than three minutes of play to lead the Crimson on an 8-2 run. Coming out of a timeout, Curry capped off the run by nailing a three-pointer from the right wing off a skip pass from co-captain Oliver McNally, putting Harvard ahead by 15, 66-51, with 8:01 to play.

“On that play, after I cut through, if they over-help on [co-captain Keith Wright], then the look is to skip it over to me,” Curry explained. “Oliver hit me with a good pass, and I just stepped up and made it.”

Seattle was unable to recover from the deficit, and Harvard’s lead did not dip into single digits the rest of the way.

While the Crimson eventually took control of the contest, it took time for Harvard to gain separation from the visiting Redhawks. After the Crimson took its first double-digit lead of the game off a jumper from junior Christian Webster with 7:50 to play in the first, Seattle made it a two-possession game after Prince Obasi knocked down back-to-back three-pointers.

Travis answered on the ensuing Crimson possession, pulling down an offensive rebound off a Webster miss, and then exploding to the basket. Travis finished an and-1 layup, extending Harvard’s lead to eight. The Crimson’s lead never fell below seven the rest of the way.

The victory extended the Crimson’s winning streak at Lavietes Pavilion to 19 games, marking the ninth-longest current home winning streak in the nation.

Now that the Crimson is likely to find its way into Top 25, preserving that home winning streak might be more difficult.

“All that [being ranked] means is that the target just got a lot bigger on us,” Curry said. “Being in the Top 25, people are going to really, really come after us, so we’ve got to be prepared. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

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