Men's Basketball Loses Last-Second Heartbreaker to Rhode Island

KINGSTON— A ping-pong duel between two evenly-matched teams ended in fitting fashion.

The 21st and final lead change in Harvard men’s basketball 76-74 heartbreaking loss to the University of Rhode Island Friday night came at the hands of sophomore guard Fatts Russell, who nailed a contested triple with just four ticks left in the game.

The Crimson had 3.8 seconds and a full 94-foot court to change its fortunes, but first year guard Noah Kirkwood was denied by Rams senior Ryan Preston in a last-second heave from the center of the arc.

The boisterous Ryan Center crowd in Kingston, R.I., who had minutes earlier erupted in bedlam after the Russell dagger, joyfully exited the arena as its school’s basketball captured win number two on the season. The announced attendance of 5,494 was by far the largest away crowd that the Crimson had to battle outside of the Palestra and last year’s Kentucky contest at Rupp Arena in recent memory.

“[URI] used the energy to their advantage,” sophomore forward Danilo Djuricic said. “I don’t think it flustered us, we are experienced and played in high pressure situations. I think it was just some silly turnovers at the start of the game [that hurt us].”

Beyond the challenges with the environment, Harvard (2-2) once again fell victim to a 30-point explosion from a backcourt opposing guard. Junior Jeff Dowtin notched 13 field goals for 31 points, joining UMass’s Luwane Pipkins (36) and Northeastern’s Jordan Roland (35) on the list of consecutive 30-point individual outings allowed by the Crimson.

The aforementioned Russell will likely receive the majority of the social media buzz through “the three”, but perhaps equally as critical was his 8-for-8 free throw shooting on the night for the Rams (2-1). Despite going just 5-of-18 from the field, the Philadelphia native was a constant threat around the paint with his shifty and aggressive playmaking abilities. Overall, the Dowtin-Russell duo posed serious problems for the Harvard defense.

“It was certainly a physical game and for their defensive intensity and quickness really bothered us throughout the game,” coach Tommy Amaker said. “...We just know it’s going to be a tough game for us when there’ll be a fight in a grittier, grimy kind of game.”

On the Crimson side, a tough last-minute loss overshadows the career nights from both junior wing Justin Bassey and sophomore forward Danilo Djuricic, whose 23 and 20 points were career-highs. The two combined for 6-of-7 from deep, and were critical injections into a Harvard offense that saw regular centerpiece Chris Lewis hampered in foul trouble. Lewis’ counterpart on the home side, junior Cyril Langevine, contributed 13 points of his own while drawing four fouls on the Harvard big. Lewis attempted just seven field goals on the night, a season-low.

“[Bassey and Djuricic] really played their hearts out,” Amaker said. “They made big plays and we just didn’t get enough from different players to help them. I thought they played exceptionally well.”

The crowd appeared to impact the Crimson early on in the contest, with the Rams tallying six quick fast-break points on three steals.

Lewis was forced to the bench within the first six minutes, quickly accumulating two personals. Harvard fell to 16-10 and were a step behind on several Rhode Island possessions. It took two threes in the seventh minute of game action from captain Corey Johnson and Danilo Djuricic to finally settle the team down, as the Crimson was able to narrow the deficit back to two with two jumpers from juniors Justin Bassey and Henry Welsh.

The referee’s whistle was extremely active in the beginning of the contest, with both teams lacking discipline in rebounding and intercepting passes. By the 9:38 mark, Harvard had reached the bonus after a seventh URI foul. The Crimson would end up tallying nine fouls of its own by the end of the frame, matching the Rams first-half total. Throughout the contest, both coach Tommy Amaker and Rhode Island coach David Cox had several private in-game conferences with the referees.

A total of 18 fouls were called against the Crimson in Friday night's "gritty" game. Both coaches met with officials during timeouts. By Henry Zhu

Another Djuricic triple put the Crimson back on top, with Welsh contributing a second post-up conversion to extend the margin to four. A denial from Rams freshman Dana Tate on a Bassey drive to the hoop tampered the Harvard momentum, and the visitors languished to a scoreless lull of over three minutes heading into the final five minutes of the half.

Two layups from Djuricic and Bassey brought the Crimson back up 32-31 at the 5:13 mark, but once again this brief lead was quelled by an and-one play from Rhode Island guard Russell Fatts. Turnovers continued to haunt Harvard, and another scoreless drought of three minutes coupled with Harvard’s eight giveaway brought the Rams to a six-point lead heading into the final minute of the opening frame.

Rhode Island’s shifty combo guards Fatts Russell and Jeff Dowtin posed issues for Harvard defensively, with the two blowing by the Harvard defense throughout the contest. Coach Amaker implored his team to switch men and support defensive coverage as the duo combined for 25 points in the half. Dowtin was particularly lethal, knocking down six out of seven field goal attempts.

“[URI] has two very aggressive guards who are very fast and savvy with the ball,” Djuricic said. “When it came to guarding the pick-and-roll, sometimes we had some flat feet. Then we gave them a full head of steam, it was tough to guard them.”

The halftime break did little to break Dowtin’s momentum. The Maryland native put up 11 more on his stat sheet by the eight-minute mark, along with two takeaways.

At the 8:45 mark, both teams remained knotted at 62 apiece. A Cyril Langevine post-up attack forced the outsized Lewis to commit his fourth personal foul, sending the big back to the bench. Before that point, Lewis found three clean opportunities at the rim to bring him into double digits.

Lewis’ support man, Henry Welsh, was no stranger to the whistle, either. The Redondo Beach, Calif., native tallied his fourth foul at the 5:37 point, with the Rams again going in the interior to Langevine.

On the boards, the Crimson showed a greater eagerness in the latter frame. Accumulating three offensive rebounds and ten total in the first half, Harvard tallied 33 boards to conclude the night with eight on the attacking end. However, in one of the most critical turning points of the game, a failed rebounding effort by the Crimson cost them a lead and a four-point swing.

Up 72-69 with just 1:29 left in the game, Harvard sent Dowtin to the charity stripe after Kirkwood was called on a drive-in attempt by the Rams guard. Dowtin converted the first free throw but rimmed out on the second. Freshman guard Tyrese Martin grabbed the offensive board, distributing the ball out to the perimeter where it was reunited with Dowtin. Calmly swishing the trey, the 31-point man had brought URI back on top.

On the opposite end as the clock ticked to its final minute, Kirkwood seized possession of the ball in the left corner and forcefully attacked the basket. He was met by Langevine who attempted fruitlessly to draw a charge, instead called on the block. However, on the subsequent one-and-one, Kirkwood rimmed out on his first shot. Dowtin attempted to seal the game with a jumper, but Bassey grabbed the missed attempt with less than 15 seconds remaining and the score 73-72 in favor of the Rams.

Bassey took the ball in his own hands, but before he could initiate a play, was instead tripped up by Martin. This time with two shots at the line due to the Rams’ 10th foul, the junior guard converted on both.

Ultimately however, it was Russell instead of Dowtin who was the closer for the University of Rhode Island.

Looking ahead, Harvard will journey out to the West Coast over Thanksgiving Break as it faces the University of San Francisco and Saint Mary’s. After a competitive week against A-10 opponents, the Crimson will continue to encounter stiff non-conference competition in the weeks ahead.

“We had a great win against UMass early on in the week and this is a tough one for a lot of us today,” Djuricic said. “We are just going to use it as fuel for the rest of the season and don’t want to feel like this moving forward obviously.”

— Staff writer Henry Zhu can be reached at henry.zhu@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @Zhuhen88.