M. Hoops Falls in Double Overtime to Princeton

PRINCETON, N.J.—The struggling Harvard men’s basketball team had a chance to knock off Ivy powerhouse Princeton Saturday night, but the Crimson (2-17, 1-5 Ivy) couldn’t close out the Tigers (11-6, 4-0) and fell 58-50 in the first double-overtime game ever at Jadwin Gym.

Princeton freshman Harrison Schaen twice sent the game into extra periods and then dominated the first 3:20 of the second overtime before guard Scott Greenman entered and scored seven points over the final 1:10 to put the game away.

The 5’9 Greenman hadn’t scored since the first half when he came in during a Tiger 30-second timeout with 1:32 to play in the second extra frame and drilled a three 22 seconds later to put Princeton ahead by six, 53-47.

“Scotty’s only flaw is that he’s small,” Princeton coach John Thompson III said. “He’s a tough player that makes plays when he has to. We put the ball in his hands at the end of the game there figuring he’d make a play, and eventually he did.”

“In our offense, that’s not a shot that I’d normally take,” Greenman said. “But the shot clock was winding down and we weren’t really set up on offense, so I just decided to try to make a play, and it went in.”

Greenman then went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe down the stretch to seal the victory.

Schaen had set the stage for Greenman’s clutch performance by blocking a layup by Harvard junior captain and small forward Jason Norman from behind and then stealing an entry pass by Crimson sophomore forward Luke McCrone just before the timeout.

Schaen also opened the second overtime by converting two free throws and then stealing a Norman entry pass on the next possession.

Harvard missed all eight of its shots from the floor and shot 4-for-8 from the free-throw line in the second overtime, including a 2-for-4 performance from sophomore power forward Matt Stehle, a 77.2-percent free-throw shooter entering the game. Stehle did have three offensive rebounds in the frame.

Schaen had blocked a Norman shot with nine seconds remaining in the first overtime to preserve a 46-46 tie and force a second extra period. Stehle had two turnovers and went 1-for-2 from the line during the frame.

Schaen played just two minutes in regulation, but entered the game during a Tiger timeout with 35.8 seconds remaining in regulation and made a layup with 23 seconds to play to tie the game at 42 and send it to overtime in the first place.

“We needed a little burst of energy,” Thompson said. “We needed a little infusion there and he gave it to us.”

The Crimson could have won the game after Schaen’s bucket, but Stehle and sophomore point guard Michael Beal got their signals crossed on the ensuing inbounds pass and turned the ball over, leaving Harvard to dodge a bullet when Greenman missed a shot with two seconds left.

The Crimson took a four-point lead on two free throws by junior center Graham Beatty with 3:54 remaining in regulation and took three shots on two of its next three possessions—with Stehle pulling down three of the four offensive rebounds—but couldn’t score again before the buzzer.

A Beal bucket with 8:52 to play in regulation was Harvard’s final field goal before overtime. The Crimson shot 25.9 percent for the game.

Harvard coach Frank Sullivan reinserted his starting lineup with 7:08 remaining in regulation and stuck with it until Beatty fouled out 10 seconds into the second overtime. Every Crimson starter but Beal played with four fouls after Stehle picked up his fourth with 5:40 to play in regulation.

Harvard trailed by six at halftime, but took a four-point lead while holding Princeton without a field goal for the first 12:32 of the second half, with the Tigers missing all 12 of their shots from the floor during the span.

Princeton shot 4-for-22 (18.2 percent) for the second half, including 0-for-8 from three-point range.

That came in stark contrast to the final 9:39 of the first half, when the Tigers outscored the Crimson 16-2.

Harvard had taken its largest lead of the game at 13-5 with an 11-0 run—including nine points by Norman—early in the half. The spurt included a four-point possession for the Crimson captain, who was fouled while making a layup, but missed the free throw before Stehle pulled down the offensive rebound and dished it to him for another lay-in.

Greenman led all scorers with a career-high 16 points—seven in the second overtime and nine on 4-for-4 shooting in the first half. He also didn’t commit a turnover in 38 minutes of action.

Norman led Harvard with 15 points—12 in the first half—and played nearly the entire contest, missing just 24 seconds of game time in the second half before fouling out with 28 seconds remaining in the second overtime.

Norman also hounded Princeton guard Will Venable for most of the game.

“He showed good character tonight,” Sullivan said. “He really wanted the challenge of guarding Venable.”

Venable finished with 11 points and tied a career high with 10 rebounds, giving him his first career double-double.

Stehle also had a double-double—his and the Crimson’s fourth of the season—with 14 points and 13 rebounds, eight on the offensive end.

Beal added a career-high 11 rebounds to go along with seven points.

Kevin Rogus, Harvard’s leading scorer, was held to just five points on 1-of-9 shooting. Rogus opened the scoring with two free throws 1:16 into the game and didn’t score again until he hit a three-pointer 1:09 into the first overtime.

The Crimson had just four assists against 24 turnovers, with Stehle, Beal and Norman combining for 18 of those turnovers.

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