M. Basketball Cruises Past B.U., 76-60

The Harvard men's basketball team proved last night that it is one of the best basketball teams in Beantown.

A week after defeating Northeastern by 23 points, the Crimson (3-2) knocked off a cross-town rival, crushing Boston University 76-60 last night at Lavietes Pavilion.

Draining three-point baskets at will, Harvard dismissed B.U. with ease, going up by as much as 26 points in the second half. A surge late in the game brought the Terriers (3-2) to within seven points, but they never threatened after that.

Harvard started the game on fire and had amassed a 20-point lead nine minutes into the game. B.U., playing after a ten-day rest, looked lost, constantly turning the ball over on bad passes and offensive fouls. Guards Drew Gellert and Elliott Prasse-Freeman applied pressure to B.U.'s young ballhandlers, forcing them to make tough interior passes that Harvard was easily able to pick off.

On the offensive end, Harvard had the hot hand. Prasse-Freeman, who has not been one of the team's offensive leaders this season, hit five three-pointers in the first half alone. Combined with outside shooting from Gellert and captain Dan Clemente, the Crimson shot a blazing 8-of-12 (66.7 percent) from behind the arc in the first half.

"Certainly to see those kinds of threes from Elliott is unusual," Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan said. "They were there-- he took [them]. It gave us a lot of momentum early in the game because it was totally unexpected."

The Crimson players were equally surprised.

"Threes were just popping up," sophomore guard Pat Harvey said. "We got a lot of good shooters on this team, and they're going to shoot when open."

B.U. couldn't find its shot in the first half, which just made things worse. In addition to the turnovers--15 in the first half alone, and 21 in the game-- the Terriers had trouble against a larger Crimson squad. Usually on the small side, Harvard found itself in the awkward position of playing a team without a true big man. In fact, B.U. played mostly with two forwards and three guards last night.

Most of the Terriers' offense came from guards Paul Seymour and Matt Turner, who had 20 and 7 points, respectively. But outside a few guys, B.U. couldn't put the ball in the hoop, missing a lot of inside jumpers and layups. As a team, B.U. shot only 21-of-61 (34.4 percent) from the field during the game.

"We had to bounce back from [Saturday's 82-78 loss to Albany], where we gave up over 50 percent of field goals, and 50 percent of three pointers," Sullivan said. "We worked on that the last two days, and our defense really gave us an unusual enthusiasm."

Harvard kept up the pressure throughout the first half, keeping the lead hovering around 20 points. B.U. was unable to turn positives into points. For instance, while the Terriers had a rebounding edge, they were unable to convert those into significant second chance points. And instead of using the ten-day break as a way to get ready for the game, it looked as if B.U. had just rusted.

It didn't help that every single Harvard player was playing well. Even the usually unreliable play from centers Onnie Mayshak and Brian Sigafoos had reversed course, and the pair wrecked more havoc than their opponents suspected.

The two combined for twelve points. Sigafoos, for his part, was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and five rebounds. More importantly, both Mayshak and Sigafoos owned the lane, seemingly able to score every time they got the ball inside. That more than anything set the stage for the other players to get good looks from three-point range.

"The other teams in the Ivy League will start to recognize our presence inside," Mayshak said.

The teams exchanged offensive runs for most of the second half. The Crimson came out of the locker room still fired up from the first half, and two early three-pointers from Harvey gave Harvard its biggest lead at 57-31. While not shooting at the 67 percent clip of the first half, the Crimson did continue to shoot well early in the second half.

The Terriers slowly crept to within striking distance. Buoyed by its rebounding advantage, and aggressive play from Jason Grochowalski and Stijn Dhondt, B.U. started a 16-2 run with ten minutes left to pull to 67-60. Partly out of desperation, B.U. heaved up long distance shots and drove the lane, looking to draw fouls and maybe hit the errant three.

But while Harvard shot only 38 percent from the field in the second half, B.U. shot worse, going 11-of-35 (31.4 percent).

The Crimson had not gone cold, just unlucky. It scored only five points in nine minutes, and turned the ball over due to a strong press by the Terriers. Meanwhile, B.U. wasted valuable time fighting for offensive rebounds and getting its plays set up. They continued to turn the ball over, and picked up fouls at an alarming rate. B.U.'s comeback was killed when Dhondt picked up four fouls in only three minutes. Added to the one he picked up in the first half, Dhondt was out with a minute and a half left to play.

Harvard then closed out the game with free throws, and won by a comfortable 16-point margin.

Lost in the boxscore was Clemente, who once again was limited to a subsidiary offensive role. He had a season-low 11points, and the only shots he made were three-pointers and free throws. While Harvard tried to get the ball inside to its star forward, Dhondt was responsible for continuously pushing "D.C" out of position. Though frustrated, Clemente did lead the Crimson with seven rebounds.

"It happened against Albany, too," Sullivan said. "He's a marked man. I mean, that's going to happen so it's great to see guys like Pat pick up some scoring, Elliott pick up some scoring... I think our guys have done pretty well the last two games, adjusting to the possibility of Dan being short-circuited."

Prasse-Freeman finished with sixteen points, while Harvey led the team with seventeen points, despite playing only 27 minutes.

"We were really down after the weekend's game," Harvey said. "B.U.'s a tough team-- it's a good win."

Having established its claim to some type of local dominance, the Crimson travel to Colgate this weekend before returning home for its Ivy League opener against Dartmouth on Dec. 16.