Casey Leads Harvard Men's Basketball Comeback Against Saint Joseph's

With just under two minutes to play, junior guard Brandyn Curry drove down the lane and navigated through a maze of Saint Joseph’s defenders, scoring a lefty layup to give the No. 23/24 Harvard men’s basketball team its first lead since early in the first half.

On the Crimson’s next possession, junior forward Kyle Casey drained a three-pointer to stretch the lead to four, and the Crimson (12-1) held on to earn the comeback victory, dropping the Hawks (10-4), 74-69.

For both teams, it was a tale of two halves. As it had done two days earlier at Boston College, Harvard’s defense had no answer for St. Joe’s at the start of the game and quickly fell behind by double digits.

But the Hawks continued to attack throughout the half. Led by the sharpshooting backcourt of sophomore Langston Galloway and junior Carl Jones, the Hawks shot a shade under 80 percent from the field en route to a 48-point first half, the Crimson’s worst defensive frame all season.

Saint Joseph’s, which missed only five shots from the field in the half, scored more points than four of Harvard’s previous opponents did in entire games, and the Crimson went into the locker room down 10.

But the Hawks offense cooled down considerably in the second half, and Harvard’s Casey caught fire. St. Joe’s made only eight field goals in the second half and shot under 30 percent as the Hawks watched their lead slowly dwindle.

Casey scored 20 of his season-high 26 points in the half, including a dominant stretch in the final few minutes when he scored five quick points on a 9-0 Crimson run that helped seal the come-from-behind win.

“He’s an incredibly talented player,” said co-captain Keith Wright, who paced the Crimson offense early on and finished the game with 16 points. “[Casey] just has to believe that he can play like this day in and day out.”

Surrendering 48 points in the first half was uncharacteristic from a team whose success has largely been built on its defense. But the Crimson was all but helpless for the first 20 minutes of the game.

Jones, who finished the game with a team-high 22 points for the Hawks, made six of eight shots from the field to lead his team in the first half.

Galloway scored 15 first-half points and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, including three from behind the arc. Sophomore C.J. Aikan, who anchors the Hawks’ defense with an average of four blocks per game, showed impressive touch from outside while scoring seven first-half points.

“Give them credit,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “I thought if we could just hang in there, they wouldn’t be able to continue shooting 80 percent.”

Despite Saint Joseph’s success on the floor, the Crimson managed to stick around in the first half thanks in part to a strong performance from Wright, who scored 10 points in the frame despite coverage from Aikan.

“We always try to establish an inside presence,” said Amaker. “Keith was huge. He’s been our force.”

But despite Wright’s efforts, Harvard trailed by as much as 13 before co-captain Oliver McNally nailed a three-pointer as time expired in the first half to send the Crimson in to the locker room down 10.

The Crimson slowly clawed its way back into the game in the second half. Harvard cut the deficit to seven early in the half but was unable to get any closer until a Wright layup cut the lead to five with just under nine minutes to play.

St. Joe’s pushed the lead back to seven before Hawks sophomore forward Halil Kanacevic drew an ill-timed technical foul. McNally sank the ensuing free throws to close the gap, and a three-point play from Casey cut the St. Joseph’s lead to two as the momentum began to swing.

But a Hawks free throw and a jumper from Aiken pushed the Crimson’s deficit to five with under six minutes to play.

With the game winding down, Wright scored two on a put-back to pull the Crimson to within three. On Harvard’s next possession, Casey picked up an offensive rebound and drew a foul as he finished the layup. The score brought the Crimson to within one, the junior but couldn’t convert on what would have been the game-tying free throw.

Once again, the Hawks tried to pull away. Jones stole a pass on the Crimson’s next possession and scored in transition to put St. Joseph’s up, 68-65, with just over three minutes to play.

But from that point on, Harvard took control. Casey nailed a fall-away jumper, Curry’s layup gave Harvard a one-point lead, and Casey drove home the dagger as he nailed a three-pointer with just over 30 seconds to play.

“We’re a veteran team, we’ve been in situations like this before,” Casey said. “We knew we weren’t going to come back in one shot.”

—Staff writer James M. Acer can be reached at jacer@college.harvard.edu.