NOTEBOOK: Cornell’s Hot Hands Knock Off Harvard

It took just five threes from four different Cornell players to bury the Harvard men’s basketball team.

The Big Red hit its first five shots, all threes, as it grabbed a 15-5 lead just over four minutes into the Friday night contest at Lavietes Pavilion.

“I think it’s a game that, unfortunately in our league, requires guys to understand during the week that the team that wants this game is probably going to win,” Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. “Talent is thrown out the window. We’re not playing for a playoff, and for that I feel bad for all our guys. I felt Harvard allowed that to affect it tonight.”

Cornell would shoot just 6-for-18 from behind the arc but the damage had already been done, as Harvard never pulled any closer than eight the rest of the way.

“In the second half, we were fine,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “Early in the game we were surprised by some quick handoffs, and they got us in rotation that led to some threes off of extra passing.”

Late in the season, hot opposing shooting became a trend against the Crimson, as the squad allowed opponents to hit 41 percent of its shots from three during its eight-game losing streak. In its first 18 games, Harvard held opponents to 35-percent shooting from long range. In lopsided defeats, like the last five contests that Harvard lost by double-digits, the Crimson allowed the opposition to shoot over 47 percent from behind the arc.

BIG MAN IN HIDING

After the Crimson’s 81-68 home loss to Penn on Feb. 11, captain Matt Stehle struggled to maintain his lofty scoring and rebounding averages from the season’s first 21 games.

Stehle, who finished the season with 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, contributed just 11 points and seven boards per contest during that span, which included three of his lowest point outputs of the season (six against Yale, eight against Princeton, and nine against Cornell).

Meanwhile, the 6’8 forward picked up at least four fouls in each of the games and fouled out of the Crimson’s 77-66 home loss to Yale.

BEST OF WHAT’S NEW

Entering the final weekend of the season, Cornell guard Adam Gore and Harvard guard Drew Housman seemingly both had the inside track to the Ivy League Rookie of the Year award.

Gore, who was the prohibitive favorite after eight consecutive double-digit scoring efforts, cooled down late in the season, giving Housman a chance to steal the honor with a solid weekend and a strong head-to-head performance.

It wasn’t to be, however, as Gore knocked down four threes en route to 16 points and three assists, while Housman registered just seven and two, respectively.

QUICK THREES

Senior center Brian Cusworth played despite wearing heavy tape on his right hand, which he broke after throwing down a two-handed jam at Jadwin Gym against Princeton last weekend.

“It created a level of great uncertainty in his mind,” Sullivan said. “How much can I do? Should I risk the blow? It’s not an easy thing to play through.”

Cusworth finished with nine points and 11 rebounds and made three of his six free throws despite having to take them with his left hand. “I had no follow through with my right hand,” said Cusworth of the free throws. “I wasn’t trying to show off or anything.”...Senior swingman Michael Beal entered Saturday’s game just eight rebounds away from 400 for his career, but he fell two short of that mark. Stehle needed eight blocks against Columbia to tie the school career record (117), but only picked up two...No Harvard players cracked double figures in scoring against Cornell, the first time all season that no members of the Crimson hit at least 10 in a game.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@harvard.edu.