Men's Basketball Blows Out Saint Rose, 84-38

The month of December held no shortage of ups and downs for the Harvard men’s basketball team (9-3). But after turning the page to 2015, the Crimson is rolling again.

In its first action from Lavietes Pavilion since early December, Harvard scored early and often Monday, cruising to its first victory of the calendar year over Saint Rose (5-9), 84-38.

In a contest that saw all 15 active members of the roster hit the floor, sophomore forward Zena Edosomwan paved the way for the Crimson, posting a career-high 14 points to go along with seven rebounds in just 16 minutes.

Following the game, Harvard coach Tommy Amaker called the sophomore’s production “outstanding.”

Eight minutes into the contest, Edosomwan already had four points off the bench. The six-foot-nine sophomore tried to make it six, but he failed to throw down a dunk not once, but twice.

But with the help of junior point guard Siyani Chambers, the ball found its way back to Edosomwan a third time, and the big man delivered. The sophomore laid the ball up and in, drawing a foul and converting the three-point chance to extend the Crimson’s lead to 16-10.

“Coach [Amaker] always says ‘Next play, next play,’” Edosomwan said. “That’s what I wanted to do tonight. I missed a couple dunks, so I said, ‘Alright,’ and I finished.”

The shot for Edosomwan came in the middle of an 8-0 run for Harvard. Once the score had reached 20-10, Amaker went to his reserves, but after five quick points from the Golden Knights, the coach went back to his core.

The decision paid off, as the Crimson came out of the timeout in attack mode. Sparked by five quick points from Chambers and four from senior forward Steve-Moundou-Missi, Harvard got the lead back to double digits, where it would remain for the rest of the game.

Chambers put a cap on the Crimson’s dominant first half seconds before the buzzer sounded, delivering an alley-oop to junior wing Agunwa Okolie to bring the score to 43-21.

Hitting three three-point shots over the course of a 23-6 run to close the half was sophomore guard Corbin Miller, who finished the game with 12 points in a team-high 22 minutes.

“[I wanted] to come in and play at 100 percent for however many minutes I played,” Miller said. “As long as I’m in there, as long as I can give full effort and do what’s asked of me, that’s what it’s all about.”

The Golden Knights, members of the Northeast-10 Conference in Division II, had their work cut out for them in their first-ever contest against a Division I opponent. The 46-point margin of victory for Harvard is the largest it has achieved under Amaker’s tenure, besting a 43-point victory over Daniel Webster in 2008.

The Crimson made use of its size advantage throughout the contest, outscoring Saint Rose in the paint by a 34-10 margin. Harvard also outrebounded the Golden Knights, 47-32.

“I thought the guards were tremendous at looking inside, and I thought the bigs were outstanding at sprinting the floor and getting in early post position,” Amaker said. “When those things go hand in hand, you’re probably going to have a pretty good inside attack.”

Already leading by 22 at halftime, the Crimson kept its foot on the gas, scoring 17 of the game’s first 18 points in the second half.

Senior wing Wesley Saunders, who was held scoreless in the first half, got on the board during this stretch. Entering the contest averaging over 17 points per game, the senior attempted just three shots on the night, finishing with five points.

Likewise, Saint Rose’s leading scorer this season—junior guard Max Weaver—was held without a point in the first half, ending up with just one on the game. As a team, the Golden Knights shot just 21 percent from the field, while Harvard hit on 53 percent of its own shots.

For the Crimson, it was the bench who did the majority of the damage on offense. Behind the efforts of Edosomwan, Miller, and freshman guard Zach Yoshor—who had 11 points of his own—the bench outscored Saint Rose by itself, 50-38.

“Throughout the game when we had a large [lead], we never stopped playing the right way,” Amaker said. “Everyone had a chance to play, and everyone, I thought, played well and did really, really positive things for our team.”

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jmeagher@college.harvard.edu.