M.Basketball Dominates Washington & Lee 72-49, Wins Season Opener

It may have been against a Division-III team, but the Harvard men's basketball team definitely made a statement Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion.

With help from a talented freshman unit, the Crimson (1-0) used tenacious defense to spark a 16-0 second-half run and ran the Generals (0-1) out of the building with an impressive 72-43 victory.

Junior forward Dan Clemente scored a game-high 19 points despite making just 8-of-21 from the floor, and captain Damian Long added 11 points and four rebounds in a swingman role.

And highly-touted freshman point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman impressed, collecting eight rebounds and eight assists in only 21 minutes.

Although the Crimson this year is focusing more on development after the loss of three senior starters, including point guard Tim Hill, who is the school's all-time assists leader, don't tell that to this year's squad.

"We realize we're a work in progress," Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan said. "Our goal is consistency and growth, but we're going to go into the Ivy League looking to win it all. We realize that anything can happen."

Despite outplaying the Generals in every facet of the game in the first half, the Crimson found itself up only by three points going into halftime, 31-28, after giving up eight unanswered points in the last two minutes.

Harvard used the halftime break to regroup and came out with plenty of fire.

"We wanted to establish ourselves defensively in the second half," Sullivan said. "Once we got the early jitters out of the way, we started feeling more and more confident."

Freshman guards Brady Merchant and Prasse-Freeman, along with returning sophomore starter Andrew Gellert, pressured the Generals guards throughout the last 20 minutes.

Gellert separated his right shoulder last month and originally was not expected to play until next week, but started Saturday.

Gellert and Merchant combined for nine steals in the second half, as the Crimson quickly extended its narrow lead towards a comfortable margin.

During the Crimson's decisive 16-0 run, Gellert scored six points and made two steals at midcourt, both of which resulted in breakaways.

Freshman power forward Sam Winter also scored six during the run, off good looks in the low post from Gellert and Prasse-Freeman.

Prasse-Freeman dazzled the crowd with his playmaking skills. One of his main beneficiaries was Winter, who came off the bench with 15 minutes remaining and scored nine points. Winter was the only man on the roster who didn't play in the first half.

With Gellert and Winter providing a one-two scoring punch for the Crimson and Prasse-Freeman running the show at point, the stingy Harvard defense took care of the rest, holding Washington & Lee to just nine points in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

"We decided to increase our backcourt pressure," Gellert said. "We got after their guards with a full-court press and just got a bunch of steals. I think that frustrated them a lot."

The first half was the Dan Clemente show. A power forward with a strong inside game, Clemente showed why he may be well on his way to an All-Ivy League selection at season's end.

Clemente was 7-of-13 from the field with two three-pointers in the first, giving Harvard the early advantage with his deadly shooting. Long, the only senior from last year's team who saw substantial playing time, added nine points of his own in the first 20 minutes. Long also made his only three-point attempt.

Freshman center Onnie Mayshak started along with Merchant, making it the first time since March 6, 1993 that the Crimson started two freshmen.

Prasse-Freeman added some juice to the Crimson's half-court oriented offense when he entered the game after seven minutes.

"My role is just to come in and run the show," Prasse-Freeman said. "I wasn't too worried about the whole freshman thing. Once you get on the court, it's just basketball. We've all been dreamed about Division I-A ball, and this was our chance."

Harvard quickly pushed up the tempo once he entered the game.

Prasse-Freeman's vision even caught some of his own teammates off guard, as his last-second passes sometimes bounced off open but unsuspecting teammates.

"This was a good start to the year," Sullivan said. "Our defense really got us going in the second half and it was a nice win. This season is about growth, permanent growth."

The Crimson now turns its attention to two road games this week, the first at Holy Cross tomorrow night.