Notebook: Yale's Balance Too Much for Men's Basketball

NEW HAVEN, Conn.—A hot start by Yale and a 14-point halftime deficit were too much for the Harvard men’s basketball team to overcome as the Crimson fell to the Bulldogs, 59-50 in New Haven. With freshman starting point guard Tommy McCarthy home in Cambridge with a concussion and junior forward Zena Edosomwan on the bench for most of the evening, Harvard (11-16, 3-8 Ivy League) did not have the firepower to keep pace with the Bulldogs (19-6, 10-1). The loss locked up Harvard’s first losing season since 2007-2008 while Yale kept pace with Princeton atop the Ivy League standings.

NO POST PRESENCE

Edosomwan picked up two personal fouls before the game’s first media timeout, a trademark of his sophomore campaign, and was consigned to the bench by Harvard coach Tommy Amaker,

While the Los Angeles native returned to the floor later in the half, it was a mere two minutes before Amaker decided that the more conservative defense Edosomwan would have to play to avoid picking up his third foul outweighed the offensive presence he added and the double teams he attracted.

“It’s tough on defense, especially when you play great defense for 30 seconds,” Okolie said. “A shot goes up and you can’t get the rebound and that’s tough.”

The Bulldogs took advantage of the hole left on both ends of the floor by Edosomwan’s absence. Yale outrebounded the Crimson, 37-29, and the guests only corralled two rebounds on the offensive end. The Bulldogs chewed up Harvard inside, collecting 34 points in the paint.

In the second half, with Edosomwan sitting, sophomore Chris Egi and freshman Weisner Perez played the lion’s share of the frontcourt minutes. The underclassman duo combined for two points, eight rebounds, and seven fouls in 34 minutes. Only 18 of the Crimson’s points came in the paint and the team only got to the free-throw line five times.

“We need to get to the foul line,” Amaker said. “We were one foul away from being in the bonus. Early in the second half and we were never able to push that to where we were utilizing the foul line to make our run.”

FEARSOME FOURSOME

While Amaker emphasizes the importance of an inside-out game on the offensive end for his team, it was James Jones’ team that was able to spread the floor and score in a variety of ways. The Bulldogs shot 45.3 percent from the field, and made six three-pointers to go along with 34 points in the paint.

Sophomore guard Makai Mason got the ball rolling for Yale in the first half, finishing with 11 points, including three treys, before intermission. Some of Mason’s open looks were created by Harvard’s smaller lineup, which often switched into zone defense in order to slow down the Bulldogs’ physical big men. Backcourt mate senior Nick Victor also chipped in seven points before the break.

“It’s always very tough,” Okolie said. “You have to cover the floor, but they have a lot of shooters as well. It would have been a lot easier for us if we held them to one shot but unfortunately, we couldn’t do that.”

After the intermission, Yale’s forwards and the team’s balance began to take their toll on the Crimson. Senior forwards Justin Sears and Brandon Sherrod chipped in 12 second half points to go along with six rebounds, setting the tone for a workman-like half from the Bulldogs. Yale kept Harvard at arm’s length and grew its lead to 17 before both coaches explored the depths of their benches.

A 10-0 run to close out the game allowed the Crimson to leave New Haven with a single-digit defeat, but Mason, Victor, Sherrod, and Sears had already done their damage. The quartet had 48 of the team’s 59 points and 28 of its 37 rebounds.

“They’re a veteran team,” Amaker said. “Physically they’re strong. I think they’ve done a great job with being relentless on the glass, very hard to get second chance points against them.”