Men's Basketball Downs Mercer, 75-69

The Harvard men’s basketball migrated south for the weekend, traveling to Macon, Ga. to take on Mercer this afternoon at the University Center.

The Crimson (2-1) picked up its second win of the young season, defeating the Bears (1-2), 75-69.

Harvard sophomore Christian Webster turned in a career performance in leading the Crimson to victory, notching 29 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc.

But Webster wasn’t the only Harvard player lighting it up from deep. The Crimson shot a combined 42 percent from three-point land—its highest mark on the season—with sophomore Brandyn Curry and freshman Laurent Rivard chipping in with three three-pointers apiece.

Mercer, meanwhile, struggled from deep, shooting just 3-of-19 (19 percent).

Neither team was able to establish a lead in the opening minutes until the Crimson went on an 8-0 run midway through the first period to establish a 25-17 lead.

Webster sparked the run with 9:01 to play, sinking the first of three consecutive free throws. Curry followed with a three ball to put the Crimson up by six. Rivard capped off the run two minutes later with a jump shot.

Harvard went into the break up 10, 37-27, but the Bears came out on a tear to start the second. The home team evened the score at 39 less than four minutes into the second half, thanks to eight points from Mercer’s Jeff Smith, and then built a three-point lead with 15:24 to play.

But the Crimson managed to regain control of the contest over the next five minutes of play by relying on the three, accumulating a nine-point lead with 10:23 left. Harvard’s lead never dropped below six for the remainder of the contest, and the Crimson escaped the Peach State with the 75-69 win.

Webster, Curry, and Rivard were the only Harvard players to reach double-figure scoring, finishing with 29, 13, and 12, respectively. Junior co-captain Keith Wright—who entered the contest as the Crimson’s leading scorer, averaging 20 points per game—faced double teams all afternoon and was held to just three points on two shot attempts.