Crimson Collapse Wastes Rogus’ 29

You almost had the feeling it couldn’t last.

Junior guard Kevin Rogus nearly single-handedly propelled Harvard to its first halftime lead of the season Friday night against Colgate, but the inexperienced Crimson collapsed in the second half en route to an 18-point loss.

Jumpers by freshman guard Jim Goffredo with 7:49 remaining and junior captain Jason Norman with 52 seconds to play bookended a 22-6 Raider run during which the only Harvard field goal was a layup by Rogus off a feed from Goffredo.

Foul trouble left Harvard shorthanded for much of the second half.

Sophomore point guard Michael Beal had reentered the game just before Goffredo’s jumper after picking up his fourth foul with 8:50 left in the game, but fouled out with seven minutes left. It was his fourth disqualification of the season.

Junior forward Graham Beatty entered with Beal after having had to sit down after picking up his fourth with 11:39 to go.

“We’re probably leading the nation in foul[ing] out,” Rogus said.

Having trailed by five with 14:12 to play, the Crimson had recovered temporarily to recapture a 47-46 lead with 11:42 remaining before things spiraled out of control.

Harvard fell behind for the first time in the second half when it didn’t even take a shot for 3:42 after Rogus converted a conventional three-point play with 17:34 to go. Meanwhile, Colgate went on a 9-0 run to take a 46-41 lead. The Crimson committed five of its 13 second-half turnovers during that stretch, including three by Beal and an offensive foul by Beatty away from the ball.

“We’ve got to realize that we can play offense without turning the ball over by just knowing to run our play and we can play defense by just hustling without fouling,” Rogus said.

Harvard came out of the locker room and extended its halftime lead with a steal and two-handed, backboard-rocking jam by sophomore forward Matt Stehle 1:07 into the half that made the score 38-33 before the Crimson began to self-destruct.

“There’s a lot of pressure going into every one of these games—having not won a game yet—and now we’re actually in a situation where we have the lead at the half…That was a lot of pressure on some guys for the first time,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said.

The Crimson also may not have recovered mentally from an 86-42 shellacking at BU Tuesday night.

“There were some battle scars from the BU game,” Sullivan said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

But the Crimson—thanks to Rogus—didn’t show many ill effects in the first half.

Rogus scored seven of Harvard’s first nine points on a pair of layups and then assisted on a Goffredo jumper that made it 17-11 Colgate with 13:19 to play in the half.

The junior lefty’s first two buckets weren’t what you’d call vintage Rogus. One came on a right-handed layup and the other on a nifty spin move in the paint.

“He’s worked hard at trying to be more than just a catch-and-shoot guy,” Sullivan said. “That’s the biggest thing I’m so impressed with.”

But Rogus soon returned to his sharpshooting form with a three-pointer.

Less than a minute after Goffredo’s jumper, Rogus hit a layup to make it 19-13 and spark an 8-0, game-tying Crimson spurt.

Rogus also spotted up for a three during the run after blocking a shot by Raider Mark Linebaugh from behind.

Rogus then gave Harvard its biggest lead of the game with a three-pointer that made the score 26-21 with 7:57 to play in the half.

He also inspired the team on the defensive end, taking four charges during the game—two in each half.

“That’s just what I do on defense. I’ve always done that,” Rogus said. “It’s what I try to do to help the team.”

Rogus finished the first half 7-of-11 from the floor—including 4-of-7 from behind the arc—for 19 points. About the only thing he didn’t do well was hit his free throws, going 4-11 from the charity stripe.

But all that reversed itself in the second half, as Rogus—overplayed by the Colgate defense—missed all four of his three-pointers while going 4-for-4 from the line.

“It really is the first time we’ve seen perimeter overplay like that to a degree that we couldn’t run our offense,” Sullivan said.

With the Crimson continuing to struggle and Rogus relatively unable to find his shot, Harvard had trouble just staying afloat.

“Our inability to really generate any of the three-point shots—particular with Kevin—hurt us,” Sullivan said.

“We just fell apart,” Rogus said. “We just became a little disoriented when they saw how I was being overplayed.”

Rogus still finished with a career-high 29 points.

—Staff writer Alan G. Ginsberg can be reached at aginsber@fas.harvard.edu.