Defense Steps Up As Crimson Continues To Roll

The Harvard men’s basketball team certainly didn’t leave its defense in the Bahamas.

For the fourth straight game, the Crimson held its opponent to fewer than 50 points, picking up a 55-48 win over Vermont Thursday night in front of a full house at Patrick Gymnasium despite a less-than-stellar offensive performance.

In its first game since winning the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Caribbean Saturday, Harvard held the Catamounts over 20 points below their season average and to 35 percent shooting from the field.

The Crimson turned the ball over 15 times and shot 35 percent from the field in the second half.

“Our defense has been able to win games for us—no question about it,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “Our kids have been able to dig in and get stops for us when we need them. Our defense has been outstanding.”

Following a second-half run that pulled the Catamounts within 41-39 with 9:03 left, the Crimson’s defense came up big down the stretch.

Harvard (7-0) held Vermont (4-3) to just nine points on 3-of-15 shooting over the final nine minutes of play.

The Crimson was led offensively by co-captain Keith Wright and sophomore Laurent Rivard, who combined for 25 points, albeit on 9-of-19 shooting.

“We didn’t finish,” said Amaker, whose squad shot 6-of-17 from the field and 1-of-6 from deep in the second half. “We’re not going to look very good and play very well if we don’t shoot better.” The Crimson fared better offensively in the first half, posting 36 points on 14-of-23 attempts from the field and a deadly 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Junior forward Kyle Casey led Harvard’s offense in the early going, posting all of his eight points in the opening frame.Thanks to its hot shooting and stifling defense, the Crimson went into the half up, 36-26.

Coming out of the break, Harvard extended its lead to as many as 13 with 17:34 to play but then hit a cold spell, bricking its next six attempts from the field.

The Catamounts capitalized. After missing its first four field-goal attempts to open the second period, Vermont started to hit. Catamounts’ freshman guard Four McGlynn got the ball rolling for the home team, sticking a triple from the top of the key to pull Vermont within nine with 14:41 to go.

Crimson freshman Jonah Travis was whistled for an offensive foul on the other end, returning the ball to the Catamounts. On the ensuing possession, McGlynn stepped up again, this time driving to the basket and banking it in off the glass.

After a badly missed three-pointer from Casey, McGlynn scored his third basket in 77 seconds, draining a triple from the right wing.

Following a Rivard miss and a Christian Webster turnover, the ball was back in Vermont’s hands. This time, Ben Crenca stepped up for the Catamounts, finishing a put-back layup to put Vermont within two, 39-37.

“We had trouble guarding the ball a little bit,” Rivard said. “They blew by us a couple times. It was a little too easy.”

Harvard’s lead hovered at two for the next three minutes of play, as the teams traded baskets. But after Sandro Carissimo’s jumper made it 41-39 Harvard with 9:03 to go, the Crimson began to get stops and hit shots.

Wright and junior point guard Brandyn Curry scored on the Crimson’s next two possessions, and Wright put Harvard up by seven with a free throw.

After Vermont’s Brian Voelkel turned it over, the Crimson took the ball the other way. Curry skipped a pass to Rivard on the right wing, and the sophomore buried the shot to put Harvard ahead, 49-39, less than three minutes after Carissimo’s shot.

“Kind of vintage Laurent with a big shot, a big dagger,” said Amaker of Rivard, who was playing in front of nearly 50 friends and family who made the two-hour trip from his native Quebec to the game. “Certainly he’s done it again for us.”

The Crimson’s lead never dipped below four the rest of the way, and Harvard delivered Vermont its eighth defeat at Patrick Gymnasium in its past 43 games.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Amaker said. “Very pleased with us to be able to get a win in this environment against a team that we knew had a lot thrown into this one.”

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.