Men's Basketball Drops Princeton at Home, 82-76

No matter their allegiance, fans of Ivy League basketball had to savor Friday night’s matchup between the Harvard and Princeton men’s basketball teams at Lavietes Pavilion. The conference’s two best squads delivered a game worthy of its billing—an up-tempo, well-played, and highly competitive contest that saw the Crimson solidify its spot at the top of the Ancient Eights standings with an 82-76 victory.

Both teams looked comfortable on the court, shooting over 50 percent and effectively executing their competing styles of play—Princeton (12-5, 0-3 Ivy) with lots of screens, cuts, and three-point shots, and Harvard (17-3, 4-0) relying on its skilled individual playmakers to create opportunities. The two squads seemed to know exactly what was coming from the opposition; it was just a question of what they could do to prevent it.

“We prepared the same way [as usual],” co-captain Laurent Rivard said. “We know a little bit of what [the Tigers] run. The coaches did some scouting, they showed us a little bit, but we tried to stay true to our identity and our defense.”

Playing in front of a sellout crowd, the Tigers looked rattled by the atmosphere early on, committing six turnovers in the first seven minutes. When they did get a look at the basket, however, they capitalized at a high rate, particularly through sophomore forward Hans Brase, who scored 17 of Princeton’s first 21 points and 18 overall in the opening period. The Tigers finished the half shooting at a 60.9 percent clip from the field, and trailed the Crimson by one at the break.

But Harvard began to extend its advantage early in the second half behind the hot shooting of Rivard. The Crimson’s all-time three-point shooting leader connected on three three-pointers in a five-minute span to help key a 21-6 run that stretched the lead to as many as 15. Rivard finished the game with five threes and a season-high 18 points.

“There was a bunch of possessions where we were up and down,” Rivard said. “Everyone was getting a little tired, so you just try to keep pushing and find the spot.”

Princeton whittled away at the Harvard lead to make for a nervy finish, compounded by the Crimson’s struggles at the free-throw line. Harvard missed six free throws in the final 2:11, which allowed the Tigers to get within four with 59 seconds to play. But the Crimson did enough at the line and on defense—Princeton would get no closer down the stretch, and Harvard comfortably played out the game’s final moments.

The matchup between arguably the two best players in the conference—Princeton’s T.J. Bray and Harvard’s Wesley Saunders—was essentially a stalemate, as both players filled up the stat sheets with excellent performances for their teams.

Saunders carried the load on offense for the Crimson with 24 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists, while Bray countered with 26 points, six rebounds, and six assists, though he did not attempt his first shot until 11 minutes had elapsed in the first half. The two did their damage efficiently, posting identical 9-for-13 lines from the field. For much of the game, Saunders took the defensive assignment on Bray.

“That’s what [Saunders] can do,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “It doesn’t surprise us. Most of you who have seen us play and covered us, you know he’s capable of that kind of performance. You look around, and these are his kind of numbers.”

With the Crimson’s win and the losses by Columbia and Penn, Harvard remains the only team undefeated in Ivy League play. Princeton now falls two games behind the Crimson in the loss column after suffering a road defeat to Penn last week.

Forwards Jonah Travis and Agunwa Okolie were both inactive for the game—Travis with a concussion and Okolie with a knee injury. Amaker said that the two were out “indefinitely.”

—Staff writer Andrew Mooney can be reached at mooney@college.harvard.edu.