M. Hoops Continues Hibernation Against Black Bears

The Harvard men’s basketball team had faced first-half, double-digit deficits in each of its first three games this season. Maine had reeled off 9-0 runs to open each of its past two outings. So it only made sense when the Crimson (0-4) found itself trailing by 23 with 1:23 to play in the first half last night as the Black Bears (4-1) cruised to an 89-78 victory at Lavietes Pavilion.

Harvard actually jumped out to a 7-3 advantage, but Maine responded with a 13-0 run to take a lead it would never relinquish. Guard Kevin Reed scored six points in the spurt and had 24 by halftime. Reed was 8-of-10 from the floor on the half and was 4-of-5 from behind the arc as the Crimson struggled to defend the three for the second straight game.

“Until [guards] Kevin [Rogus], myself, Dave [Giovacchini], Jason [Norman], Ko [Yada] and Jimmy [Goffredo] get to that point where we’re fed up and we’re sick of seeing people shoot threes, I don’t think it’s going to happen,” sophomore point guard Michael Beal said.

Reed finished with 36 points, nailing all eight of his free throws.

“He proved to be a tough matchup for us to get under control,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “Guys really worked and wanted to do it, but that was a tough cover for us all night long.”

Beal was more opinionated.

“It’s disgusting,” he said. “This program is built around defense....That’s really what we can do. We’re a young team, so obviously our offense isn’t going to be clicking every night, but we drill the defense so hard that that has to be able to do it.”

It was the Black Bears’ first 35-point performance since Andy Bedard scored 39 against Hampton on Nov. 14, 1998.

As a team, Maine shot a scorching 70.8 percent from the floor in the first half without attempting a single mid-range jumper. All of its field goals in the first 20 minutes either were three-pointers or came from within a few feet of the basket as the Bears took a 57-40 halftime lead.

“Anytime a team shoots 70 percent in any half of basketball, you’re going to labor to be in the game,” Sullivan said.

“People aren’t supposed to shoot 70 percent from the free-throw line, let alone the field,” Beal added.

The Crimson slowly chipped away at the lead in the second half, holding Maine to 26.9-percent shooting for the frame. But it wasn’t enough to worry the Black Bears, who went to a weave to slow down the game and run out the clock with nearly five minutes to play.

“We’ve been inconsistent all year, and in each of our four games, there’s been this level of inconsistency of defensive play,” Sullivan said. “It’s gotten to be old now.”

“If we really get some level of consistency with our game, I think we’ll be absolutely fine,” Sullivan added.

“If we played teams the way we were playing in the second half, we’d probably be 3-1, maybe 4-0,” sophomore forward Matt Stehle said.

Harvard twice was able to make it a two-possession game—first when junior captain Norman hit a layup to bring the Crimson within six with 2:27 remaining and then again after two free throws by Rogus restored the margin to a half dozen with 52 seconds to play—but never came any closer.

Stehle recorded Harvard’s first double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes—all career highs—despite missing the last two days of practices with a deep contusion of his thigh after getting kneed at the end of the Crimson’s 81-75 loss to New Hampshire on Saturday.

Stehle also tied a career high with three blocks, increasing his Ivy League-leading average to 2.25 per game.

Beal turned in a very steady game with a career-high eight assists against no turnovers.

As a team, Harvard had 15 assists but still ranks last in the Ivy League with an average of 10.75 per game.

Beal also added seven rebounds and 10 points despite not looking for his shot as much as he had in previous games.

“I’m just trying to think less about my scoring and more about trying to get my team involved,” Beal said. “Really, I just slowed down. A lot of times before I was going too fast and driving too hard. I was just trying to let the game come to me.”

Beal took only five shots all night, hitting three of them.

As he has in every game this season, Rogus led the Crimson in scoring, chipping in 22 points.

Norman added 10 in a career-high 36 minutes of action.

Despite the early deficit, Harvard did manage to solve a few minor problems in the first half that had been plaguing the squad.

The Crimson hit all eight of its first-half free throws and held Maine to just one offensive rebound in the half.

Late in the first half, the Harvard bench was assessed a technical foul as Sullivan continued to argue a foul that had been called on Beatty away from the ball 20 seconds earlier.

The Crimson had been 4-0 against the Black Bears, although the two schools hadn’t played since 1929.

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