Yale Snaps Men's Basketball's 20-Game Winning Streak at Lavietes

Despite forcing 19 turnovers, the Harvard men’s basketball team (18-4, 5-1 Ivy) could not get stops when it needed to in a 74-67 loss to Yale (11-9, 5-1). After the Crimson came within four with seven minutes to go, the Bulldogs scored on four of five possessions to go up by 11.

Later, after a dunk by senior forward Kyle Casey cut the deficit to six with two minutes to go, Harvard was unable to halt Yale on the defensive end without fouling. Both Casey and junior wing Wesley Saunders fouled out in the final 90 seconds, and the Bulldogs sunk eight of its final 10 free throws to ice the win.

“We feel that the league is won on Saturday nights,” co-captain Brandyn Curry said. “Those are always the toughest games, people are tired [since] you played last night. But it is definitely not an excuse…. Saturday nights, that is when you have to bring it and unfortunately we did not.”

Yale broke Harvard’s 20-game winning streak at Lavietes Pavilion, dating back to before last year’s conference season. The Bulldogs held the Crimson to 39 percent shooting from the floor, and outrebounded Harvard, 38-24, behind double-doubles from center Justin Sears and forward Armani Cotton.

Collectively, Sears and Cotton grabbed as many missed Bulldog shots as Harvard’s top two rebounders, Casey and junior Steve Moundou-Missi. Overall, Yale had 10 offensive rebounds to just 13 defensive rebounds for Harvard, which struggled to defend the tall Bulldog front. All five Yale starters were 6’4” or taller, forcing Amaker to match up 6’0” sophomore Siyani Chambers and 6’1” Curry with taller opponents.

“[Yale] definitely had an edge to them tonight with their defensive intensity,” Curry said. “They made all the shots they needed to and they got all the stops they needed to.”

Yale came out physically, pounding the ball inside to Sears. The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead before a four-point play from co-captain Laurent Rivard sparked an 11-3 Harvard run, ending with a Chambers three-pointer that gave Harvard its first lead of the night.

For the rest of the half, the score stayed close. After a Sears layup with eight minutes to go gave the Bulldogs a 24-23 advantage, Yale never relinquished the lead, getting up by as many as seven points late in the first period. The Crimson stayed in the game with the long ball early, making five shots from beyond the arc and just six inside of it. Harvard converted on 63 percent of its threes in the first half before missing 11 of its final 13.

“They were the better team tonight and deserved to win,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “I can’t sit here and say it is all on us. I thought they played an exceptional game and came out ready to play.”

Down four at intermission, the Crimson came out and quickly gave up the first six points of the second half to the Bulldogs. A jumper by Sears extended the lead to 10—the first time the Crimson deficit reached double digits—but Harvard responded by holding the Bulldogs scoreless for the next four minutes.

However, Yale’s defense held stout. Harvard did not score in the first five minutes of the second half and the Elis prevented the home squad from getting open looks from deep. Saunders and Rivard, who combined for 20 points and three triples in the first half, had just five points after the break, shooting a combined 2-for-15 and missing all eight three-point attempts.

“I anticipated it being one of the tougher games we would have,” Amaker said. “We have always thought of them as having great personnel…. They put on a tremendous effort to get a road win against us, something that doesn’t happen very often.”

According to Curry, the Crimson—much like last year when it won its first five league contests before dropping its sixth at Columbia—will have to come out ready to play in each game going forward.

“[Now] we have to come to work every day,” Curry said. “We have to come ready to work on Monday and have a good week every week from here on out…. I know this group, and we will respond.”

—Staff writer David Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com