Chiera Knocks Down Threes, Knocks Off Crimson

It was an impossible shot.

Three feet beyond the arc, off-balance and with the shot clock a few ticks from expiration, Central Connecticut State (CCSU) guard Justin Chiera tossed up a wild three-point attempt. The ball banked high off the glass and through the net, widening the Blue Devils’ lead back to 76-66 with three minutes to play and deflating Harvard’s furious second-half rally.

That was the way Saturday’s game went for Chiera. The senior scored a career-high 27 points thanks to a career-high seven three-point field goals, making him just the third player in CCSU history to amass 200 treys. Whenever it seemed Harvard might take control, there was Chiera, knocking down a long jumper to keep the Crimson in comeback mode.

Harvard had targeted CCSU’s explosive backcourt, but could not contain the Blue Devils’ strength, speed, and shooting on the perimeter. Overall, CCSU shot 9-of-16 from three-point range and added 10 points on the fast break.

“This was clearly going in the toughest opponent for us to guard, and that proved to be true,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “The thing that was most disconcerting to our guys is we couldn’t put our teeth into any of our top four objectives from the defensive standpoint—shut down the three point shooting, limit the conversion baskets, defensive rebounding, guard the dribbling.”

CCSU’s top four guards—starters Chiera, Javier Mojica and Tristan Blackwood, and sixth man Lenny Jefferson—all scored in double figures. The group combined for 59 points, 12 assists, and five steals.

“They’ve got an experienced foursome of guards that I think is as good as anything at our level, whether it be the Ivy, Patriot or America East—I think they’re that good,” Sullivan said.

BOARDING SCHOOL

With no player taller than 6’7 in the regular Blue Devils’ rotation, the Crimson, with 7’0 center Brian Cusworth and 6’8 forward Matt Stehle, figured to have its way underneath. It was the smaller, more athletic CCSU frontcourt, however, that was able to control the boards. Harvard was out-rebounded 38-30 for the game, including 15-11 on the offensive glass.

“They out-toughed us, that’s the easiest way to say it,” Stehle said.

Forward Obie Nwadike, at 6’4, proved to be a force Harvard’s big men could not contain. Nwadike grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass to help the Blue Devils score 18 second chance points.

“Nwadike [was] just being a bull,” Sullivan said. “We couldn’t box him out. We really talked about it, I think everybody understood it—he’s a tough guy to box out.”

Nwadike was able to single-handedly match the rebounding effort of Stehle, who had 10 boards, and Cusworth, who had six. Overall, the Blue Devils grabbed 15 of their own misses while Harvard could only corral 19 defensive boards, well below the team’s goal of 70 percent.

“You’re not going to beat any team when they shoot over 50 percent [from three] and get almost 50 percent of our defensive rebounds,” Stehle said. “I’d say those were the two biggest things.”

SQUANDERED CHARITY

Despite its defensive failings, Harvard may have been able to complete its comeback from a 12-point second half deficit with better conversion from the free-throw line. Entering the contest shooting 79 percent as a team, an outstanding mark, Harvard made only 11-of-18 from the charity stripe against CCSU. Four of those misses came in the game’s final seven minutes, when the squad was desperately struggling to draw even with the Blue Devils.

“The game was a very challenging game from a physical standpoint,” Sullivan said. “This is one of our best free throw shooting teams. I saw a couple that hit the front of the rim that were dead straight, so I think anytime you do that you think about [tired] legs.”

Freshman point guard Drew Housman came up short on two attempts down the stretch, after handling the ball most of the game against intense full-court pressure from the speedy Blackwood.

“I thought it was a badge of honor that they guarded him the way they did—they were in his shirt,” Sullivan said. “They made that kid work probably as hard as he’s had to work since he’s been in college.”

The Devils, meanwhile, thrived at the line, making 22-of-31 free throws. Chiera’s three pointer with three minutes left was the last CCSU field goal, but the team finished off the victory by hitting 11-of-14 from the stripe after the Crimson began fouling to stop the clock.

POINTS IN THE PAINT

Harvard had two scorers with 20 points (junior guard Jim Goffredo with a career high 22, Stehle with 21) for the first time since Dec. 30, 2004, when guard Kevin Rogus scored 27 and Stehle added 22 in an overtime loss to Tennessee Tech...The Crimson was the last undefeated Ivy League team. Columbia (5-1) lost to Army on Friday...Senior forward Michael Beal is shooting 65.8 percent from the floor, second best in the Ivies.

—Staff writer Caleb W. Peiffer can be reached at cpeiffer@fas.harvard.edu.