Continuing Postseason Charge, Men’s Basketball Goes 1-1 Against Princeton, Penn

Things are heating up in the Ivy League as Brown (9-17, 5-6 Ivy), Columbia (13-11, 4-7 Ivy), and Harvard (14-10, 5-6 Ivy) battle for the final spot in the postseason Ivy Madness tournament. Heading into the weekend, the teams sat in a three way tie for fourth place.

After falling short of an upset win against a dominant Princeton (21-3, 9-2 Ivy) team, Saturday night’s game against Penn (10-16, 2-9 Ivy) became of increased importance for the Crimson. Despite giving up a 17 point second half lead to enter the final five minutes of the game tied, 64-64, the Crimson pulled out a clutch win to remain in control of its postseason fate.

Harvard and Brown now sit tied in the standings at five wins apiece, heading into their second and final matchup of the season next weekend. Columbia sits one win off of the pace, after falling to Brown and Yale over the weekend.

Lackluster Shooting Condemns Harvard To Loss Against Princeton, 66-53

The Crimson returned to Lavietes Pavilion on Friday night looking to avenge a 89-58 away loss to Princeton in its season opener. The Tigers ran rampant in that early-January contest, led by sophomore guard Xaivian Lee, who dropped a career high 33 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists en route to the victory.

Without both sophomore guard Chandler Piggé and first year forward Thomas Batties II due to injury, the Crimson adopted a different starting lineup, with junior guard Tyler Simon starting in place of Piggé.

Harvard was immediately reminded of Lee’s quality as he opened the scoring on Friday with a darting layup, before dishing out an assist to sophomore forward Caden Pierce for a three-pointer and an early 5-2 lead.

The game remained fairly balanced for the majority of the first half. Simon hit two timely three pointers as a part of his nine first half points and was joined by first-year forward Malik Mack, who shot 4-6 from the field to match Simon’s tally. With 3:26 left in the first half, the score sat at 34-31, advantage Tigers.

Princeton, however, was not satisfied with the three point lead, and began to show its quality as it scored nine unanswered points to lead, 43-31, at the halftime buzzer. Lee posted 22 first half points, claiming four of Princeton’s nine three-pointers (on 50 percent shooting) and two turnovers to the Crimson’s six.

Throughout the second half, Harvard fought back, closing the gap to 10 points four times, including coming back from a 19 point deficit to trail, 61-51, with 4:27 left on the clock.

The Crimson held the Tigers to just 21.4 percent (6-of-28) shooting from the field and 26.7 percent (4-of-15) shooting from three percent in the second half, but was unable to capitalize, as it shot just 10.0 percent (1-of-10) from three-point range and 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from the field itself.

“Certainly, in the first half their shooting – they were being very precise with their shots,” Coach Amaker said. “Then our second half was very poor with our shooting. It was very tough for us to make the move we needed to make.”

The squad is tied with league foe Brown in the Ivy rankings. By Courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications

Harvard ultimately was unable to close within 10 points in the final four minutes of the game and fell, 66-53, to the Tigers. Simon finished with a team and career high 13-points, with other Crimson highlights including a career-high eight rebounds from Mack and four blocks from senior forward Justice Ajogbor.

Harvard Celebrates Senior Night by Completing Season Sweep of Penn, 74-70

In its final home game of the 2023-24 season, the Crimson took the floor against Penn with both of its seniors, guards Christian Rich and Ajogbor in the starting lineup.

After sophomore forward Chisom Okpara opened the scoring with a pinpoint three-pointer, Rich took full advantage of his first start of the season, recording a steal and sprinting the length of the floor to lay in the ball for a quick 5-0 start.

Cheered on by a roaring student section, Rich almost doubled his total 20 seconds later, as Ajogbor tossed his steal upcourt to Rich, only for Penn junior center Nick Spinoso to compensate for his turnover by blocking Rich’s layup.

“What a way to have our seniors wrap up their home careers, playing here for Harvard at Lavietes,” Amaker said. “I’m so proud of that to be able to start the game the way we did with Christian and Justice obviously being starters.”

The Crimson looked sharp throughout the first half, looking to use its quick start to build up a lead over the Quakers. A 5-0 burst with 5:45 left in the first half gave the Crimson a nine-point lead, 31-22.

Junior guard Denham Wojcik added an efficient six points on a midrange jumper, a shot-clock beating floater, and a dramatic buzzer-beating layup to give Harvard a 41-28 halftime lead. The Crimson looked to have rectified the night prior’s poor shooting performance, this time hitting 41.4 percent (12-of-29) field goals, including five made three pointers.

Harvard started the second half largely the way it ended the first, using a pair of field goals from Ajogbor and Mack to grab a 17 point lead with 18 minutes to play. That 17 point cushion might have lulled some Harvard fans into a false sense of security, as Penn went on a 11-0 run to cut the lead to six, 45-39, just two minutes later.

The Quakers continued to chip away at the deficit and with 5:14 left on the clock, drew the score level, 64-64. After leading for all but 27 seconds of the game, the Crimson found itself deep into the second half without anything to show for its dominance.

On the next play, Ajogbor grabbed a defensive rebound off of a missed Wojcik floater, before being fouled on the way up to the rim and sent to the line. Ajogbor sank both of his free throws to put the Crimson back on top.

Harvard then capitalized on a missed Penn layup as Mack drove into the paint before kicking the ball out to wide-open junior guard Louis Lesmond, who drilled in the corner three pointer for an emphatic five point lead.

Mack then hit one of his signature turnaround jump shots off the dribble for two points of his own. That 71-64 lead would be enough for the Crimson to defend in the final 1:30 of the game, as Mack and Okpara shot 3-4 free throws to close out the game, 74-70.

The Crimson is heading into a double-header this weekend against Brown and Yale. By Courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications

Those free throws were part of 27-of-32 made attempts from the charity stripe for Harvard against Penn. Coach Amaker joked about the Crimson’s excellent 84.4 percent free throw shooting after the game.

“There's just something in the water for us here lately to be able to shoot free throws the way we have,” Amaker said. “Which is an incredible weapon, as we all know, to be able to cash in when you're there and punish people. It's deflating if you can get to the line and make free throws and it's certainly a way to close the game out.”

The Crimson also benefited from a massive senior night performance from Ajogbor, who put up 16 points, 13 rebounds, and three blocks on 6-of-7 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 makes from the free throw line.

“I thought Justice’s play was incredibly inspiring,” Amaker said. “His length, his shot blocking, his rebounding, his presence in terms of scoring. Even the ones he doesn’t block, he’s in there.”

For Harvard, the calculus is now simple. Win and you’re in. The Crimson must now take care of business on the road if it is to secure the fourth and final Ivy Madness spot, starting with taking on rivals Brown, which holds an identical Ivy record after defeating league leader Cornell (20-5, 9-2 Ivy).

Harvard will play the Bears on Friday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m. EST in Providence, before heading south to New Haven for a matchup with Yale on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. EST. The Crimson then wraps up its season the following Tuesday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. EST with a midweek game against bottom-of-the-table Dartmouth (5-19, 1-10 Ivy). All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.

—Staff writer Alexander K. Bell can be reached at alexander.bell@thecrimson.com.