Harvard Defeats Crosstown Rival Northeastern

The last time the Harvard men’s basketball team faced off against Northeastern, the year was 2008 and the contest resulted in a double overtime victory for the Huskies. Then-second year coach Tommy Amaker was coming off an 8-22 rookie season of and Jeremy Lin ’10 still donned a Crimson jersey. But that was then.

On Wednesday night at Matthews Arena, Harvard (8-1) bumped up its win streak to four with a 72-64 victory over local rival Northeastern (2-6). The win nudged Amaker into a tie for third place on Harvard’s career wins list with 120 victories to his name.

“I thought it was just a gritty effort by both teams,” Amaker said. “We knew that we were going to get an incredible effort out of [Northeastern] this evening and I thought they played with a great deal of energy and passion.”

While Harvard held the lead for 37 minutes of the game, the Huskies put up a fight down-low with strong post-play. After a season-start riddled with early-game foul trouble, senior forward Kyle Casey played a clean and tight first half to lead the team with 12 points at intermission. Casey was crucial from the inside and at the line, where he knocked down all four of his foul shots.

“My teammates found me in open spots,” Casey said. “I thought I was pretty efficient tonight getting to the basket, knocking down some mid-range [shots], and just playing within myself.”

Casey and junior guard Wesley Saunders led the team with 17 points apiece. Saunders who was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout last week, provided reliable shooting over his 38 minutes of play and closed the first half with a buzzer-beating dunk.

“We want the ball in his hands to make plays, for himself and for his teammates,” Amaker said.

With junior center Kenyatta Smith out on injury and classmate forward Steve Moundou-Missi called for early fouls, sophomore Evan Cummins stepped up to defend a Northeastern offense led by two big men, 6’8” Scott Eatherton and 6’6” David Walker. Eatherton, who led the Huskies with 17 points, stumbled at the charity stripe, going 3-for-11, while Walker struggled to find open looks from deep and converted just two three-point attempts.

Cummins, who had six blocks in Saturday’s win over TCU, chipped in 10 points for the Crimson, adding six boards and two of the team’s six blocks, including a vital swat of Eatherton in the final minute of play. Cummins was joined on the glass by junior Jonah Travis and his six rebounds, and played the pick-and-roll with Saunders throughout the contest.

“With Jonah coming off the bench and now Evan coming off the bench, we’ve got a lot of bigs,” Casey said. “We were in foul trouble tonight—what Evan can do for us brings another dimension to our team.”

While Casey and Saunders powered Harvard to run the floor over the first frame, the squad allowed an 8-0 Huskies run that nearly squandered the Crimson’s lead.

Emerging from the locker-room break, the Crimson consistently forced the ball down low, leading to a number of lay-ups, and shifted to a zone defense. Following these adjustments, Harvard extended its lead to as large as 11.

“Sometimes you just really see if you can change the rhythm of the team,” Amaker said. “We’re not a zone team but we’ve used it in stretches and sparingly. Sometimes it works for us.”

Despite talent behind the arc, long-range looks were few and far between, as the Crimson took just seven shots from deep, making three. Sophomore guard Siyani Chambers, a trademark three-point shooter, handed out a team-high eight assists.

After playing the Great Alaska Shootout averaging a field goal percentage under 50 percent, Thursday’s efficient shooting enabled the team to climb to 56.5 percent, its second highest mark of the season. The game was its fifth in a six-game road-trip that will end this weekend across town at Boston University.

“It’s a tricky time of the year for students in college,” Amaker said. “You’ve got to stay focused and stay disciplined…. I’m pleased and proud of our guys.”

—Staff writer Cordelia F. Mendez can be reached at cordelia.mendez@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @CrimsonCordelia.