Men's Basketball Clips Yale, Moves Into Tie for First Place in Ivy League

NEW HAVEN, Conn.—What was a raucous gym for nearly two hours no longer was. The home to the Ivy League’s only unbeaten team entering Saturday was not that either anymore. No, as over 2,000 Yale faithful filed out of the John J. Lee Amphitheater, the remaining Harvard supporters were giving the gym a new designation after the Crimson men’s basketball team’s 52-50 victory over the host Bulldogs.

“This is our house,” the fans chanted. “This is our house!”

The Amphitheater had become the most important battleground in the Ancient Eight. The Bulldogs (16-7. 5-1 Ivy) have been on the rise for over two years, entering Saturday 5-0 in Ivy play for the first time since the league formed in 1956. After finishing third two seasons ago and second last year, Yale showed its ambition early this season with a non-conference win over UConn—a team that has stymied Harvard (15-5, 5-1).

But the Crimson diminished the building’s significance with its fourth straight win in New Haven. The win, which ensured that the road to an Ivy title still goes through Cambridge, left Harvard in control of its own destiny in the conference championship race.

The Bulldogs had gained notoriety with league-best scoring and rebounding numbers, led by Ivy League Player of the Year candidate senior Justin Sears. A rowdy crowd also helped as the team posted an 8-1 home record entering Saturday. From the opening minute of the game, the 2,500-plus in attendance let out roar after roar—for blocks, for buckets, even for Harvard turnovers—that felt uncouth in the Gothic Monastery of a basketball arena.

However, neither team could handle the big stage in the first half, according to their coaches.

The Crimson held the Bulldogs to 11 points in the first half, a record-low for Harvard’s defense under coach Tommy Amaker.

“Both teams came out and the moment got the best of both teams,” Yale coach James Jones said.

Meanwhile, the Crimson only scored 16 points on the other end. It tallied seven turnovers and went oh-for-five from three-point land along the way.

“Sometimes that happens where you’re playing so hard, you can’t shoot straight or even think straight,” Amaker said. “I think that’s exactly what happened.”

Balance is a big word for the Harvard program, Amaker says, and he told his team that it would be particularly important Saturday night.

“Can we play with passion and yet patience and poise,” he explained after the game. Can his players show forethought but still have instincts?

In the second half, Harvard found that balance.

The Crimson scored on four of its first five possessions and had just four turnovers over the first 16 minutes of the second half. Yale hung with Harvard for the first 10 minutes of the period, but then the Crimson put together a 13-4 run—highlighted by a 24-foot bomb from junior co-captain Siyani Chambers as the shot clock wound down—to grab a 10-point lead.

Chambers finished with eight points. Senior guard Wes Saunders led all scorers with 16 despite shooting four-of-13 from the field.

In the win, the Crimson managed to deny Yale its calling cards. Harvard, led by Moundou-Missi and sophomore Zena Edosomwan, outrebounded its hosts, 42-32.

“They’re the best in our league at rebounding the ball,” Amaker said. “It was a point of emphasis for us, absolutely, and if we don’t do that, we have no chance of beating them.”

The Crimson also held the Bulldogs to their fewest points in Ivy play. Sears finished with just nine points on two-of-seven shooting.

The Bulldogs, with the help of two late Harvard turnovers, still managed to make things interesting in the final moments. With a 12-4 run, Yale cut the deficit all the way to two points with seven seconds left. But it was all for naught as co-captain Steve Moundou-Missi found Saunders on a critical inbounds pass, and Saunders sank two free throws to the tune of M-V-P chants to seal the win.

Yale’s fans, loud throughout, still cheered a meaningless buzzer-beating layup that brought the game to a close on the ensuing possession. Ultimately though, it was the traveling Crimson fans who got the final say.

—Staff writer Jacob D.H. Feldman can be reached at jacob.feldman@thecrimson.com.