Men's Basketball Falls Late Against Colorado

For the first half of Sunday evening’s nonconference matchup against Colorado (6-1), the Harvard men’s basketball team (4-1) looked every bit the mid-major power pundits had tabbed them to be. After the second 20 minutes, the evidence supporting that claim seemed a little shakier.

Whether it was fatigue brought on by the high altitude of Boulder, Colo., or simply a talented team playing up to its potential, the Buffaloes overwhelmed Harvard with a late 19-2 run to overturn a double-digit deficit, propelling them to a 70-62 win over the Crimson at the Coors Events Center.

“I thought being at home for them really gave them the energy and the shot in the arm that they needed,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “It hurts for us because we thought we did some pretty darn good things, especially in the first 20 minutes. But you [have] got to play 40 minutes.”

Early on, the Crimson looked sharp in its first big test of the season, opening the game on a 16-4 run. Reversing its recent trend of poor shooting from deep, Harvard made six of its 12 three-point attempts and assisted on nine of its 16 field goals in the first half, taking a 42-30 lead into the locker room.

The Buffaloes looked sloppy by contrast, turning the ball over ten times and shooting 42.3 percent from the field.

But after leading for the previous 33 minutes of action, the Crimson’s advantage was erased by three Colorado three-pointers in just over a minute, the last of which came from wide-open junior guard and NBA Draft prospect Spencer Dinwiddie, that put the Buffaloes up, 59-52, with 3:54 to play.

“They came in the second half and fought all the way back,” sophomore guard Siyani Chambers said. “They did make adjustments, they got into us a little more, pressured us a little more, but I think defensively we just let down a little but too much. That’s what let them get on the run.”

The hot shooting form Harvard had displayed in the first half largely deserted it in the second frame, especially from beyond the arc. The Crimson shot just 1-11 from three after the break, and co-captain Laurent Rivard, Harvard’s highest-volume three-point shooter, made two of his nine total attempts from distance.

Junior guard Wesley Saunders, the team’s leading scorer, was held scoreless in the second half and finished the game with seven points, though he also drew the most challenging defensive assignments, matching up with Dinwiddie and quick junior guard Askia Booker.

“I’m very disappointed in us not being able to make some open shots,” Amaker said. “I thought we had a boatload of them in the second half, and, you give them a lot of credit, I thought they dug in and ratcheted up their defense. I thought their energy was outstanding.”

Coming off a strong game against Bryant in which he recorded 23 points and nine rebounds, junior forward Steve Moundou-Missi was again a bright spot for the Crimson, pouring in 13 points on six shots from the field against a more formidable opposing front line.

Moundou-Missi’s performance notwithstanding, the Buffaloes’ size seemed to bother the Crimson, making the absence of injured 6’8” junior center Kenyatta Smith all the more keenly felt. The rest of the Crimson frontcourt, which included senior forward Kyle Casey, junior forward Jonah Travis, and freshman forward Zena Edosomwan, shot six-for-19 from the field, and the Buffaloes outrebounded Harvard 46-29. Casey, who has struggled with foul trouble this season, committed only one foul in the first half but picked up three in the second.

In examining Harvard’s regular season schedule, this was likely the second most difficult game the Crimson will play all year. Colorado received votes in both the AP and Coaches Polls this week and was playing in front of a home crowd about four times as large as the capacity of Lavietes Pavilion, which made itself known when finally given something to cheer about during the Buffaloes’ late run. And though it will still be just a tally in the loss column, Harvard showed off the talent that made it the unanimous preseason pick for the Ivy title for long stretches of Sunday’s contest.

“[It was] our first true road game,” Amaker said. “I thought we did an exceptional job managing the game. We had a lot of poise and composure in the first half, and I was disappointed that we didn’t display that as much as we needed in the second half.”

—Staff writer Andrew R. Mooney can be reached at mooneyar@gmail.com.