M. Hoops Finds Consolation After Cal Loss

By next weekend, the nonconference portion of the Ivy League men’s basketball season will officially be in the books. So far, it’s been quite a run for the Ivy entries, and not just by the usual suspects, though some of Penn’s wins this year (Georgia Tech, Temple) and even its near-wins (Illinois, St. Joseph’s) have stolen the spotlight.

It’s still been fourteen years since anyone besides Penn or Princeton has won an Ivy crown, but this year, the rest of the league has caused teams to stand and take notice. Brown is the best team in Rhode Island this year after beating URI and Providence. Columbia put a scare into No. 17 UCLA last week. And last Wednesday night, Yale topped Clemson, pushing the Ivies’ record against the ACC this year to a respectable 2-2.

“Across the board, everyone’s played well,” Harvard junior forward Sam Winter said. “The bar’s been raised for what’s expected of Ivy teams.”

For Harvard’s part, the Crimson’s 3-2 performance over winter break assured the team of a .500-or-better non-conference record for the sixth time in the last seven years. But heading into last weekend, the one thing missing was a victory against a major or mid-major opponent that so many of the other Ivy teams had already secured.

The Crimson’s one shot at glory came on Dec. 28, when Harvard (8-5, 1-0 Ivy) met Pac-10 entry California in the opening round of the Golden Bear Classic. Barring a surprise postseason appearance by the Crimson in March, California—with its top-30 RPI ranking—is the premier opponent Harvard will face all year. The Bears hardly looked like it during last Friday’s game, but even with Cal’s 17 turnovers and 36 percent shooting, Harvard was still overmatched, falling 69-54. The Crimson had to settle for a consolation win the next night, claiming a 55-51 overtime decision against Coppin State.

On the plus side, even in its loss to Cal, Harvard’s defense held its course. For a smaller team, the Crimson’s rebounding has been reasonably steady as well, especially in the defensive end. But with the year half over, Harvard is still searching for a reliable second scoring option behind junior Patrick Harvey and the Crimson continues to perform inconsistently at the free-throw line. All of this means that Harvard’s fate against a now imposing looking Ivy slate—which begins in earnest tomorrow at Dartmouth, followed by visits from Penn and Princeton next weekend—is really anyone’s guess.

Harvard 55, Coppin State 51

When a game is on the line, Harvey has proven himself to be one of the most reliable go-to scorers in the Ivy League. But even he can’t do it all by himself. So, while his 24 points against California couldn’t prevent a double-digit loss, Harvey’s timely basket one night later—when combined with some clutch defense and rebounding by his teammates down the stretch—was enough to hold off Coppin State.

The Harvard shooting guard nailed a three with 2:41 remaining in overtime, and the Crimson defense upended Coppin State on each of its next three possessions as Harvard closed out the Golden Bear Classic with a 55-51 victory.

The three-pointer was Harvey’s first since the first half and gave Harvard a one-point edge after trailing 51-49.

Harvard, in fact, trailed in all three periods, but rallied back each time. When the Crimson faced a nine-point deficit in the opening minutes of the game, consecutive threes by Harvey and junior swingman Brady Merchant keyed a 12-2 run that gave Harvard a 14-13 advantage.

Then, after leading by as many five in the second half, Coppin State jumped ahead again with 11 minutes to play. The Crimson would not lead again for the remainder of regulation, but strong defense kept Harvard close. The Crimson forced 20 turnovers and made up for its own poor shooting by holding Coppin State to 30 percent from the field.

Finally, with just 27 seconds remaining in the second half, junior point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman connected on a three to tie the game at 47 apiece.

After Harvey’s basket in the overtime session, the Crimson forced a turnover and two misses on Coppin State’s next three possessions. Harvard center Tim Coleman grabbed the rebounds off both missed shots, setting up free throws by Harvey and Prasse-Harvey that iced the game.

“It was a tight game and we just knew that we needed to clamp down at the end,” said Winter, who chipped in eight points to go along with a team-high seven boards. “Our ability to pull out the close games has definitely improved. That has a lot to do with our experience, I think.”

California 69, Harvard 54

It’s safe to say that Harvard—which ranks first in the Ivy League both in field-goal defense (40.4 percent) and steals (113)—makes its living on the defensive end of the floor. Against Cal, the Crimson got beaten at its own game.

The Bears held Crimson to one of its worst shooting percentages of the year and caused 25 Harvard turnovers en route to a comfortable 69-54 victory. The Crimson frontcourt struggled the most against the Bears’ forwards, who each stood 6’10 or taller. Harvard’s best inside player, Coleman, shot a dismal 1-of-9 from the floor and Cal blocked eight Crimson shots.

Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan emptied his bench in an effort to counter Cal’s size. Seven-foot center Brian Sigafoos and 6’8 freshman Graham Beatty both played well above their season averages minutes-wise. The pair helped Harvard hang tough on the boards—the Crimson pulled down just one fewer rebound in the game—but could not muster much offensively.

“It was harder for our big guys to get open looks,” Winter said. “It was hard for us to get position at all—their guys were both 6’11 and they were both good athletes, as well.”

Harvard fell behind early, and even after a small spurt narrowed the gap to 15-12, a 10-2 Cal run put the game away early. The Bears closed out the first half with a 37-25 lead.

The second half brought little relief. Even while Cal shot a horrid 30 percent, Harvard failed to settle into any kind of offensive rhythm with all the turnovers it was committing. Bears reserve A.J. Diggs played only 11 minutes in the game, but even that was enough time to grab six steals. Prasse-Freeman was Harvard’s worst offender on turnovers—he coughed the ball up nine times.

“We’re turning the ball over too much,” Winter said. “Our overall execution on offense needs to improve.”

Harvey was the Crimson’s only bright spot Saturday, pouring in a game-high 24 points. Harvey shot 8-of-17 overall—including 4-of-8 from the three-point line—while playing a game-high 34 minutes. He received All-Tournament honors for his two-day performance.

Harvard 81, Sacred Heart 69

For the second time in three games, Merchant ignited a key second-half run to lift Harvard to victory at Lavietes Pavilion.

This time the victim was Sacred Heart. After an up-and-down start to the second half that saw 11 lead changes, Harvard went ahead to stay with 8:15 to play thanks to a 14-2 spurt. Merchant accounted for six of those 14 points, including the go-ahead basket. He scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half.

Besides Merchant, three other Harvard players scored in double-digits, including senior captain Drew Gellert, who chipped in a season-high 13. Gellert also had five steals to lead a Harvard squad that forced 22 turnovers, 15 off steals. Entering tomorrow’s game against Dartmouth, Gellert needs just two more takeaways to move into a tie for first place on Harvard’s all-time steals list.

Harvey had 17 points, including ten in the first half as Harvard raced out to a 13-2 lead to start the game. That lead soon evaporated, however, when Sacred Heart—powered by Maurice Bailey, who provided a team-high 17 points off the bench—rallied to tie the game at 24 with 6:00 to go in the first.

The Pioneers took a 29-28 lead with less than two minutes to play before the break, but a pair of free throws by Merchant put Harvard back on top. Then, with six seconds left, Merchant managed a steal in the Sacred Heart backcourt and finished the play with a layup, good for a three-point Harvard halftime lead.

The win was the third in four games for the Crimson. Harvard’s 81 points were a season-best output.

Vermont 74, Harvard 54

Just days after claiming its largest win of the year, the Crimson suffered its most lopsided defeat of the season at Patrick Gym in Burlington, Vt. Giving up runs to the tune of 23-4 will do that.

That burst—fueled by eight points from Vermont guard Taylor Coppenrath— staked the Catamounts to a 40-26 halftime lead. The Crimson—which shot just 36 percent from the floor, including a 4-for-19 performance from three-point land—never recovered. Winter (1-for-8) and Harvey (4-for-12) struggled to discover their scoring touch. Coleman was the Crimson’s leading scorer with just 12 points.

Harvard was decimated on the boards, as Vermont pulled down 48 rebounds to the Crimson’s 33. Even worse, after making inroads with its free-throw shooting against Dartmouth, Harvard reverted to its early-season struggles against Vermont, hitting just 7-of-15 attempts from the line.

The loss snapped the Crimson’s two-game winning streak.

Harvard 70, Dartmouth 53

Merchant scored nine points in a span of 3:38 to ignite a 19-3 second-half run as Harvard staved off Dartmouth 70-53 at Lavietes Pavilion. The Crimson spurt negated a 17-1 rally by the Big Green, who never led but closed within 38-36 earlier in the half before Merchant took over.

With the win, Harvard claimed its second consecutive victory and its fifth in a row over Dartmouth.

Prasse-Freeman led Harvard with 14 points as the Crimson shot 42 percent for the game. More importantly, with the exception of the first eight minutes of the second half, the Crimson frustrated Dartmouth’s offense at every turn. Harvard limited the Big Green to 25-percent first-half shooting and forced ten second-half turnovers, as Dartmouth continued to show post-exam period rust.

Gellert neutralized Dartmouth point guard Flinder Boyd today, holding him to just seven points (none in the first half). Entering the game, Boyd was the Big Green’s leader in points (16.3) and assists (4.3). He was also coming off a career-high 24-point performance against Boston University the previous Wednesday.

“Drew watched more tape on Boyd than any guy that I can recall,” Sullivan said. “He was watching tape as late as 11:30 this morning just watching [Boyd] put the ball on the floor.”

“Drew played out of his mind today,” Prasse-Freeman added. “He really shut Flinder down. We came out and they couldn’t get good looks at the basket. Our ball pressure really messed up their offense.”

In addition to his defensive play, Gellert also added six assists and eight points against Dartmouth, rounding out a well-balanced Harvard attack that saw seven players score eight or more.

The game marked the first time this season in which junior guard Pat Harvey did not lead Harvard in points. Harvey shot just 3-for-10 but still managed 10 points.

“First we had to convince ourselves that we didn’t need to rely on [graduated senior] Dan Clemente’s presence. I think we’re over that hump. The next thing is convincing ourselves that we can still play good, quality basketball if Pat is indeed not having a good shooting night,” Sullivan said.

The Harvard backcourt stoked the Crimson’s offense in the first half. Gellert led the team in scoring with seven points and Prasse-Freeman added six as the Crimson guards continued to make a concerted effort to create scoring chances off the dribble.

Dartmouth, meanwhile, struggled mightily in the first half. Aside from 11 points from freshman Mike McLaren—who led all scorers today with 15 points—Dartmouth was hard pressed to hit a shot in the early going. Harvard only made matters worse, outrebounding Dartmouth 26-13 en route to a 35-19 halftime lead.

But after Winter hit a short-range jumper to open the second half, Dartmouth reeled off 13 unanswered points. Jumpers by McLaren and Steve Callahan then moved the Big Green within two with 12:21 to play. But Merchant made four of the game’s next five baskets. The last of those—a lay-up off a steal in the Dartmouth backcourt—pushed Harvard’s lead back up to double digits at 50-39.

The Big Green never threatened again, as the Crimson made its free throws down the stretch. After averaging just 57 percent from the line before today, Harvard had its best free-throw shooting performance of the season against Dartmouth, nailing 21 of 26 attempts (81 percent).

The Crimson forwards continued to play well. Coleman had eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds before fouling out late in the game, while Winter added 10 points and 8 boards. Also encouraging was the effort of Sigafoos, who came off the bench and just missed a double-double with 9 points and 9 rebounds in 17 minutes.

The battle was the first Ivy contest of the 2001-02 season. League action resumes tomorrow, when Harvard meets Dartmouth for a rematch in Hanover, N.H.