Tigers Triumph in Fifty Minutes

PRINCETON, N.J.—Once again, Harvard traveled to Princeton hoping to take down its Ivy rival.

And once again, for the 18th time in a row, Jadwin Gym’s Tigers chewed up the Crimson’s hopes and spit them out whole. Harvard (10-11, 3-4 Ivy), riding a stunning 33-point performance from sophomore Drew Housman, pushed a depleted Princeton squad to its limit, but ultimately fell in a 74-68 double overtime thriller Friday night.

The Crimson has not won at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym since 1989. Friday night proved just another chapter in Harvard’s depressing history in this small New Jersey town.

This time, however, one huge twist in the story made the loss all the more agonizing.

Housman, showcasing the very zenith of his speed, versatility, and scoring ability, seemed to take the Crimson on his shoulders, scoring 12 of the team’s final 14 points in regulation.

And his play was accentuated by his biggest shot: down three with a minute to play, Housman dribbled up the floor, stopped at the top of the key, and nailed a game-tying trifecta to knot the score at 56.

“I think in Housman’s case that was the next level,” Sullivan said. “It was tremendous what he did tonight, so to see that poise and that confidence, especially in a highly pressurized game, was very rewarding.”

On any other night, in any other arena, this effort would prove more than adequate to secure a huge Ivy victory. But this was against Princeton, in Princeton, where not only the Tigers basketball team, but also the demons of Jadwin past worked to defeat the Crimson.

“It was a really courageous effort, especially on the defensive end,” coach Frank Sullivan said. “[But] it’s even more heartbreaking given the circumstances.”

Harvard appeared to have the Jadwin riddle solved as the second half started, jumping out to a 42-34 lead over the first three minutes of the frame.

By switching from man-to-man to an extended 3-2 zone, the Crimson was able to contain the sharp-shooting Princeton squad, which shot 6-of-14 from three-point range in the first half.

The only problem for Harvard: with the exception of two free throws from captain Jim Goffredo, nobody but Housman scored for the rest of the half.

In fact, after an Andrew Pusar layup put the Crimson up 40-34 with 17 minutes left in regulation, Housman scored 22 of the team’s next 24 points, including all four in the first overtime, until Pusar converted again late in the second extra session.

“We had trouble finishing tonight,” Sullivan said. “Credit Princeton for some of that, but we had some good opportunities in that stretch, but we just could not finish them off.”

As the second overtime came, an exhausted Housman had nothing left in the tank, leaving the Princeton sharpshooters free to attack, punctuated by senior Kyle Koncz’s three to put the Tigers up 65-62 and in the lead for good.

On a night characterized more by Harvard’s shooting woes, which afflicted junior Brad Unger, an 83.3 percent free-throw shooter who missed two from the stripe with 58 seconds remaining in regulation, and Goffredo, who tallied only seven points and one three-pointer, there was one other bright spot for the Crimson—sophomore Evan Harris.

Harris was all over the court in the first half, tallying 10 of the team’s 32 points, including an emphatic left-handed slam over two Tiger defenders that absolutely silenced the “Jadwin Jungle,” Princeton’s pep group, five minutes into the frame.

But like all things in Jadwin Gym, his stellar play faded away, as the Tigers collapsed on him with double teams when Harvard gave the big man touches down the stretch.

And with three minutes left in the first overtime, a questionable off-the-ball call sent Harris to the bench with five fouls—a huge loss on both ends of the court for the Crimson. With the only other consistent scoring threat besides Housman fouled out, Harvard fought an uphill battle the entire rest of the way.

“Everybody, especially Evan, was determined to play better on Friday night,” Sullivan said. “I think he was an X-factor in this game for us, so anytime you lose a starter playing pretty well, it’s big for us.”

But even after Harris left the game, Housman helped push the game into a second overtime.

Princeton then went 3-of-5 from the floor and hit seven free throws in the final five minutes to send Harvard off the court with another heartbreaking defeat.

Jadwin Gym wouldn’t have it any other way.

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.