No Upsets This Year for M. Hoops

It was one of Dan Clemente's favorite shots. He thought it was going in, as did the 2,125 fans at Lavietes Pavilion who gathered to watch the Harvard men's basketball team play its final home game of the season.

But when Clemente's turn-around three-point shot with 1.9 seconds left glanced off the rim, a crazy back-and-forth game ended with Penn escaping with a 62-61 victory.

The miss was a disappointing end to an otherwise exciting weekend, which saw the Crimson first get blown off the court 63-48 by Princeton Friday night and then return to scare the NCAA-tournament bound Quakers on Saturday.

Penn 62, Harvard 61

Harvard (10-15, 5-7 Ivy) had kept the game close the entire way and overcame a 10-point deficit in the second half to pull within three with just under 30 seconds remaining to set up the final sequence.

Captain Damian Long, playing in his final home game, hit both ends of the one-and-one to get the Crimson to the final one-point deficit. Harvard then tried to steal the ball, but when the Quakers crosses half-court, it tried to foul any player.

Penn (18-7, 11-0), however, played keep away, shaving valuable seconds off the game clock. Star Penn guard Michael Jordan got the ball, jumped up looking for someone to pass to, but came down without getting rid of the ball and was called for the travel. Harvard remained alive for the last shot with 9.3 seconds left.

The Crimson inbounded the ball to freshman guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman, who worked the ball up the court before finding Clemente in the corner. Jordan, however, switched off a screen and was able to get a piece of the ball-- knocking it out of bounds and forcing the final shot with 1.9 seconds left.

Clemente mouthed "Give me the ball" and his teammates obliged. While the shot looked clean, it just went a little too long.

"The plan was to get the ball to Dan coming off two or three screens," Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan said. "The whole game it had worked, and we thought Dan would take the shot over Jordan. Any other player couldn't have [tipped the ball] other than Jordan."

While the final shot may have looked unorthodox, Clemente had no problem with it.

"I like that shot--it's one of my favorites," Clemente said. "When it left my hand, I thought it was all right."

From the start it looked like Harvard was going to get blown out again. The Quakers jumped out to a 18-5 lead on transition baskets and fast breaks. Harvard shot itself in the foot by constantly missing short lay-ups and jumpers. More often than not, the Crimson got stifled by 6'11 center Geoff Owens, who scared the Crimson into redirecting shots and changing their minds about driving into the lane.

Both teams shot poorly, but Harvard went into the locker room only down 30-24 due to the play of Clemente and Prasse-Freeman. Clemente finished the half with 12 points while Prasse-Freeman had seven assists.

Harvard came out strong defensively in the second half and actually took a brief 35-34 lead on Clemente's layup off a Penn turnover. Jordan then scored five straight points and gave the Quakers a lead it would never relinquish.

Luckily for Harvard, it would be Jordan's final five points.

Clemente continued to terrorize Quaker forward Ugonna Onyekwe in the low post and scored almost at will. Meanwhile, Harvard sophomore guard Drew Gellert took on an unusual role as an offensive threat, getting inside for easy layups.

Gellert finished with ten points.

Though Jordan wasn't scoring, three other Penn players went for double figures. Guard Matt Langel hit three 3-pointers in the latter part of the second half to help Penn open up a 10-point lead, and Owens had a double-double with 12 points and 17 rebounds.

The Quakers, however, kept stumbling as it tried to pull away. Nine turnovers in the second half, combined with poor free-throw shooting let Harvard keep the game close. Clemente became a one-man show in the last five minutes to get Harvard to within those final three points.

"This time we took good shots from them and didn't back down," said Sullivan, making a reference to the game in Philadelphia, when Penn easily won 79-52.

In that game, Clemente had two points and fouled out. Saturday night, he went for 25 points in 37 minutes.

"I felt the rhythm," Clemente said. "I was posting up really well [against Onyekwe] and got my turnaround going in."

Prasse-Freeman also played outstanding despite poor shooting numbers, gathering 14 assists and only one turnover, which was a traveling violation in the second half.

"Elliott played with a great assist-turnover ratio," said Sullivan. "He didn't let Friday night [against Princeton] get to him."

The final home game of the season marked the final home games for Long and 12th man Ethan Altaratz. Altaratz got to start and didn't waste the opportunity, getting two points and a block in eight minutes of play.

Long finished out a great home season that saw him become the premier long-range shooter for the Crimson. Epitomizing the definition of captain, Long rallied his troops in the tense final minutes and made sure they didn't lose their poise as they had against Princeton.

Despite his best efforts, Long was unable to get anything going offensively all night with Jordan guarding him. He went 3-of-11 from the floor, including 1-of-6 from three-point range. His 3-pointer, however, tied him for the Harvard record for consecutive games with a 3-pointer at 23.

"I don't know anybody who plays with more heart than Damian Long," Clemente said. "He deserved to win it."

For the second year in a row, Penn left Lavietes Pavilion thanking the good Lord for a miraculous win. Even though the Quakers are a much improved team from last year and destined for the NCAA tournament, Harvard doesn't care that it gave Penn its toughest Ivy win.

"It's not a moral victory," Clemente said. "We don't take moral victories."

Princeton 63, Harvard 48

On Friday night, presidential politics made its way into the men's basketball game against Princeton.

Seven scantily clad gentlemen with "BRADLEY" painted across their chests served to remind the audience that this game was not only between the two basketball teams, but also symbolically between Princeton alum Bill Bradley and Harvard alum Al Gore '69.

Breaking with the trend of the national political contest, the Tigers (16-9, 8-2 Ivy) vetoed the Crimson (10-14, 5-6) by winning 63-48 at the sold-out Lavietes Pavilion.

Coming off a two-game sweep of Yale and Brown, Harvard was halted in its Ivy League progress by an anemic offense and inconsistent defense.

The Crimson, who shot only 34.8 percent from the field and 56.3 percent from the line for the night, never led in the game and struggled to find its rhythm all night.

While Harvard missed its first three shots from the field, Princeton rattled off three consecutive 3-pointers and a free throw for a quick 10-0 lead.

The fast Tiger scoring caught the Crimson off-guard, and created a large deficit that lasted most of the night.

"Two crucial elements to playing Princeton are not giving up early points and not getting down by too much," Sullivan said, "Unfortunately, we couldn't get those things done."

Harvard was also plagued by errant passes and had ten turnovers to Princeton's five in the first half.

Prasse-Freeman, who is 12th in the nation in assists per game, struggled with a six to seven assist-to-turnover ratio.

"Accurate passes and finding good scoring opportunities are essential to establishing our flow through the game," Prasse-Freeman said.

Harvard's "flow" was further interrupted by timely Princeton offensive rebounds.

During one sequence early in the first half, the Tigers offensive rebounding allowed them to keep possession for nearly two minutes.

"Against Princeton, you have to get defensive rebounds or else their slow tempo will make you pay," Sullivan said.

At the end of the first half, the Crimson was visibly sluggish as it made its way to the locker rooms, down 26-17.

The second half began with eerie similarity to the first half as Princeton capitalized on Harvard misses to make two 3-pointers and a free throw, pushing the lead to 33-17.

Although the Tigers extended their lead to as many as 20 points, the Crimson, led by the gritty Long, valiantly clawed its way back to within nine with four minutes to play.

"We always work hard for each other," Long said, "No matter who's wearing the black [away] jerseys, we always leave it all out on the court."

The comeback fell short though, as Princeton guard Ahmed El-Nokali victimized the Harvard defense for seven points in the final five minutes.

Although Princeton eventually won 63-48, Harvard had a flash of brilliance in defeat.

Gellert broke the single-season steals record previously held by Mike Gielen '89 and Keith Webster '87.

"It's nice to break the record, but it didn't help us win tonight. That's what I really care about," Gellert said.

Gellert came into Friday's game ranked 16th nationally with a 2.8 assist per game average. He has made at least one steal in every game this year.

Clemente had 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting to lead the Crimson in offense.