Late Errors Doom Men's Basketball to Loss at UMass

In what’s becoming a competitive rivalry between the Harvard men’s basketball team and the University of Massachusetts, Saturday’s matchup between the Crimson (1-3) and the Minutemen (4-1) was certainly no exception. In a close game that featured 14 ties and nine lead changes, it was UMass that came away with the 70-64 victory in Amherst on Saturday.

“I have loved this series,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “Every game has been this kind of game. They’ve been terrific basketball games. I wish we could’ve come out on top this afternoon, or even the one last year, but we’ve had these kinds of games every time we’ve played.”

With less than a minute to go in the second half, and following a pivotal three from sophomore guard Corey Johnson to cut the Minutemen’s lead to three, freshman forward Seth Towns came up with a steal and was fouled. He sank both free throws to cut UMass’s lead to one at 65-64 before Harvard fouled Minutemen guard Donte Clark with 14 seconds on the clock.

After making the first, Clark missed the second. But he came up with his own rebound despite four Harvard players alone in the paint.

“It shouldn’t have happened,” Amaker said. “There’s no way that should happen with four of our guys in the lane. We just kind of fell asleep and didn’t block up the shooter.”

After failing to get the rebound, the Crimson then sent UMass to the line twice, allowing the hosts to close out the win.

Saturday’s matchup was one largely defined by poor shooting from both teams and turnovers. Harvard shot 37 percent from the field while coughing up the ball 19 times. For their part, the Minutemen shot 40 percent and turned over the ball 12 times.

With a starting lineup that featured four freshman—Chris Lewis, Seth Towns, Henry Welsh, and Justin Bassey—the Crimson built an early 6-0 lead with co-captain Siyani Chambers running the floor. This margin would amount the largest Crimson advantage of the game, as the two teams then traded off scores for much of the game.

Lead by Clark, who finished the game with 29 points and five rebounds, the Minuteman quickly cut Harvard’s lead in what would be a largely deadlocked game.

“They didn’t shoot particularly well, and we didn’t shoot particularly well,” Amaker said. “[Clark] was the one who really carried their team, and we just couldn’t really defend him,”

In addition to the career night from Clark, Harvard struggled on the offensive end, where the team struggled to score late and missed some key free throws. Freshman guard Bryce Aiken, who sat out last week’s game against Holy Cross due to an ankle injury, went 0-of-9 from the field, and the Crimson turned the ball over twice in the last two minutes of play.

“I think we made some inexperienced mistakes,” Amaker said. “Those are probably going to happen a lot with as many of the young guys as we’re playing. But I’m pleased with the effort and with the spirit of our team.”

Despite shooting 33 percent from the field, the Crimson ended the first half tied at 32 with UMass. Dealing with foul trouble and still adjusting to different rotations, Harvard struggled to shut down the Minutemen in the second half.

“Chris Lewis got into foul trouble for us, so that kind of disjointed us a little. But I felt good about the rotation,” Amaker said. “We didn’t take care of the ball, the 19 turnovers really killed us and hurt us, but I liked the lineups we were playing.”

Lewis would foul out with over 10 minutes left in the second half, and Clark went off for 22 of his 29 in the second to defeat Harvard.

“It seems like all of our games against UMass have been tough, hard-fought, possession-by-possession,” Amaker said. “Games where we have both gone down to the wires to have to pull games out or have some gut-wrenching losses. You have to give a lot of credit to their team and their kids for making the necessary plays when the game was on the line.”

–Staff writer Troy Boccelli can be reached at troy.boccelli@thecrimson.com.