Men's Basketball Opens Conference Play With 57-46 Victory Over Dartmouth

And so the 14-game tournament begins.

With the jump ball at halfcourt and junior co-captain Siyani Chamber’s step-back jumper from the free-throw line 31 seconds later, the Harvard men’s basketball team officially commenced its journey for its fifth-straight Ivy League title.

Forty minutes and an unlikely three-point battle later, and the Crimson (10-3, 1-0 Ivy) was one step closer to regaining its crown, as the team led from tip-off to final whistle on Saturday afternoon in a 57-46 victory over Dartmouth (6-7, 0-1) in Hanover, N.H.

Harvard relied on a bevy of jumpers in the opening minutes, including three first-half treys from sophomore guard Corbin Miller, along with some wild possessions down the stretch. The team had 17 turnovers in the game, offsetting the Crimson’s 50 percent shooting from the field.

“For that to become our first conference victory for us this season, a hard-fought game against a team that has always battled us well, especially here, I’m pleased for our guys,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said.

While the Crimson led by seven at intermission—thanks in large part to two consecutive threes and a stop-on-a-dime pull-up jumper from Miller—it took less than three minutes for it to extend its lead to double digits in the second period, as the sophomore curled around the top of the key and drilled a deep two just inside the arc with 17 minutes to play.

An unlikely Big Green (6-7, 0-1) threat from deep in 6’7” forward Connor Boehm, however, quickly stopped the Harvard run, matching Miller’s threes with a series of jumpers of his own.  Boehm, who came into the game having attempted only 10 threes all season, went 4-for-5 from deep on Saturday, effectively going blow-for-blow with Miller.

After Miller’s jumper gave his squad the 11-point advantage, 34-23, Boehm received the ball from guard Alex Mitola in the right corner, and drilled the three without hesitation. His baseline jumper on the next possession cut the lead to eight again, and the team closed the margin to five shortly thereafter at 38-33, the closest Dartmouth has been since the 4:39 mark of the first half.

But a hook shot from senior center Kenyatta Smith in the lane with 9:07 to play brought the Harvard bench to its feet and got the team in rhythm once more. Moments after Smith’s bucket, Chambers got the ball off of a missed Dartmouth jumper and pushed it up the court. He accelerated at the three-point line and took the rock down the left side of the lane, drawing the foul and connecting on the layup to complete the three-point play.

Two free throws, one apiece from Chambers and Smith, brought Harvard’s advantage back to double digits, 44-33, with 6:43 remaining, setting up Miller’s final dagger of the night.

With Dartmouth in a drought of its own—having gone scoreless for the last seven minutes of play—Miller held the ball near the half-court circle with the shot clock running down. With eight ticks left, he dribbled hard to his right, before bringing it back to his off-hand, pulling up just behind the top of the key. Over the outstretched arm of 6’9” forward Gabas Maldunas, Miller hit the trey, effectively sealing the game for the Crimson as it took its largest lead of the game, 47-33.

“[Dartmouth] did a great job,” Miller said. “They hit some key shots and made a run, they got it within five. [But] then we were able to make a run.”

From there, it was a matter of clock management.

While senior wing Wesley Saunders, Harvard’s leading scorer on the season, had been sidelined for much of the game with foul trouble, the Crimson brought him in late to help fight off the Big Green press. A series of free throws from Saunders and one final emphatic dunk from junior wing Agunwa Okolie clinched the victory for the Crimson.

Ultimately, according to Amaker, the Crimson knows to expect more of what it saw tonight as it heads deeper into conference play. It knows, he said, to anticipate a highly-contested, aggressive style of play whenever it takes the floor from now until March.

“[P]eople are going to be gunning for us and we are going to get people’s best effort by far,” Amaker said. “We know that and in particular on the road…. That’s going to be the norm for us. We are used to that by now and we hope that we are up to that challenge.”

—Staff writer Juliet Spies-Gans can be reached at juliet.spies-gans@thecrimson.com.