NOTEBOOK: Great Danes Dominate on Offensive Glass in Close Victory

One big reason Harvard lost a 13-point lead and last night’s game was Albany’s presence on the glass. The Great Danes grabbed 20 offensive rebounds on the night, while the Crimson managed only 19 defensive boards.

“[Albany’s offensive] rebounds absolutely clobbered us,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “It was one of our worst defensive rebounding games in three or four years. Overall, we had a poor block-out game.”

“That was discouraging,” he added. “We talked about it at halftime and [still] didn’t do it in the second half.”

Albany pulled down 11 rebounds in the first half and nine more in the second frame. Reigning America East Player of the Year Jamal Wilson pulled down six offensive boards, and forward Brett Gifford had three in the second half.

“Coming into the game we knew that Wilson was their leading rebounder,” captain Jim Goffredo said. “And we knew the other two wings like to crash as well. We just didn’t do a good job of keeping them off the boards.”

The Great Danes constantly had all five players in pursuit of offensive rebounds, as every starter grabbed at least one rebound on the offensive end.

The team finished with 13 second-chance points on the game.

“We thought we could post up their guards a little bit,” Albany coach Will Brown said. “We felt that if we pounded the glass, we could get some easy opportunities. And the way we shot the ball in the first half, we needed to find as many easy opportunities as possible.”

KEEP AWAY

After committing 12 turnovers while producing only seven assists in the first half, the Crimson took better care of the basketball in the second half, giving the ball away only three times while racking up eight assists to finish the game with 15 assists as well as 15 turnovers.

“We shot ourselves in the foot with the turnovers,” Sullivan said. “We came back in the second half when there is a little more pressure and really played a turnover-free game until the end.”

Each of Harvard’s first four baskets to begin the second half came off an assist, capped by sophomore pointguard Drew Housman’s three-pointer off a pass from Brian Cusworth. The senior center led the team with five assists.

FIVE STAR

All five of the Crimson’s starters scored in double-figures for the first time this season. Goffredo led the team with 20, followed by sophomore forward Evan Harris with 15. Cusworth had 12, sophomore guard Andrew Pusar set a new career-high with 11, and Housman put in 10 before fouling out in the final minute for the first time this season…Cusworth blocked five shots, tying the season-high he set against Long Island in the Crimson’s previous game…The 312 fans in attendance were the fewest for any of Harvard’s games this season, home or away…The Crimson, who took a 33-31 lead into halftime, lost for the first time this season when leading at the break. Since the 2004-2005 season, Harvard is now 24-2 when taking a lead into the locker room.

—Staff writer Ted Kirby can be reached at tjkirby@fas.harvard.edu.