Threes Prove Crimson's Undoing

BOSTON—Long distance shots launched by Boston University (2-6) guards sunk the Harvard (4-5) men’s basketball team in a 79-72 loss at Case Gym after a lackluster first half for the Crimson was redeemed by stellar play from Harvard juniors.

Harvard watched the Terriers go 8-of-14 from three-point range, draining their first four attempts. By the end of play, BU’s sophomore guard and leading scorer Carlos Strong was 5-of-8 from long distance and had 22 points. Fellow sophomore guard Corey Lowe took top honors in the game with 23 points—18 of them on three-pointers—as well as a team-high 10 rebounds. The Crimson’s sluggish transition let these key shooters sneak by for open shots.

“A lot of it was communication,” junior guard Drew Housman said, “We would get mixed up with a lot of things on the fast break, we weren’t sure who was guarding who and someone would hit a big three.”

Harvard’s score was owed to two solid performances. Junior guard Drew Housman ran the Crimson’s game with 21 points, going 8-for-8 from the charity stripe and sinking half of the three-pointers he dared.

Junior guard Andrew Pusar found the bottom of the net with regularity, missing only one field goal and going 2-of-2 both from beyond the arc and the foul line, racking up a total of 18 points for the visiting team. Sophomore forward Pat Magnarelli notched 11 points in the losing effort.

“[Housman and Pusar] were certainly the main reason we had an opportunity to keep it within striking distance,” Amaker said. “I thought they gave a great deal of effort to put us in a position to see if we could dig one out on the road.”

In a forgettable first half for Harvard, sophomore guard Jeremy Lin scored the first six points of the game, but he was relatively silent afterwards, finishing with just seven.

After BU took the early lead, the Crimson managed to tie the score at 11 apiece.

Then, the Terriers set the tone for the rest of the game by grabbing the lead on back-to-back threes from Strong and junior guard Marques Johnson.

Harvard did not see the score tilt in its favor until 8:28 left to play in the half. After a Pusar three, Housman sunk two from the line, then 30 seconds later snagged a rebound and hit a jumper. Little over a minute had passed when the Terriers took control of the score for good.

At intermission, the Crimson was down seven, 44-37.

In the first half, Harvard was flawless from the free throw line—10-of-10—with six shots to Housman’s credit. Additionally, Pusar couldn’t miss—perfect from both the field and the charity stripe.

The dynamic duo posted more than half of the Crimson score with 23 points between them.

“I think my strength is doing the little things,” Pusar said. “We got good ball movement, people were able to find me, but at the same time, they got way too many open shots, and I know that I was certainly lagging on some screens, so if I’m going to catch my stride, it’s going to be in those areas.”

In the second half, Lowe struck four times from long distance, scoring 15 points after the break.

Housman pulled Harvard within one, 52-51, with a three pointer and then again, 54-53, after sinking two from the line.

But at the 13:10 mark, a dagger from Lowe catalyzed the tear that would climax in a 10-point lead for the Terriers.

“That hurt us in the past, that hurt us at Providence, that hurt us here tonight,” Amaker said. “I’m hopeful that at some point we’ll be stronger and better, and make it more difficult or make some people miss some of those attempts they’re going to launch from long distance.”

With 10:35 left, junior forward Evan Harris committed his fifth foul that would send him to the bench for the rest of play. Harris fouled John Holland as he chased the freshman down the court on a breakaway dunk attempt.

With seven minutes to play, Scott Brittain gave BU that 10-point advantage with a put-back layup after snatching an offensive rebound.

Crucial Terrier offensive boards tipped momentum in their favor.

In the messy second half, the two teams combined to take 29 shots from the free throw line. Harvard sunk 18-of-22 and BU just 9-of-17.

Last night’s win snapped a five game losing streak for the Terriers, and extended a six-game winning streak for BU against the Crimson. The last Harvard win over the Terriers was in the 2000-01 season when the Crimson knocked off BU, 76-60, at Lavietes Pavilion.

“Certainly, it was a disappointing loss for us this evening,” Amaker said. “We really felt that they were a much better team than their record [showed].”

The Crimson travels to Bethlehem, Pa., for a non-conference game against Lehigh this Saturday.