Men's Basketball Wins Late-Game Thriller Over UMass

AMHERST— In a thrilling back-and-forth battle that was decided by one possession for the second straight season, the Harvard men’s basketball team knocked off UMass 74-71. Despite a dominant 36-point outing from Minutemen junior guard Luwane Pipkins, the Crimson (2-1) held the rest of the UMass side to a combined 13 field goals.

Junior forward Chris Lewis had another commanding night in the paint, converting 8-of-11 from the field alongside three rejections. As a whole, Harvard distributed the ball for 21 assists with 32 boards. The theme of depth resonated once again, with five bench players tallying more than 10 minutes in the contest for 22 combined points.

“We just had to have an edge about us,” junior wing Justin Bassey said. “Come in with a certain spirit and a fight…to get a big, gutsy win for us here on the road.”

Minutemen coach Matt McCall was highly critical of his side’s defense, particularly in the transition game. The second-year coach praised the Crimson for its talent level and depth, even without juniors Seth Towns and Bryce Aiken.

“Just knowing their team, a veteran team [that has] won championships,” McCall said. “They weren’t going to beat themselves and every single mistake that we made tonight they capitalized on.”

Sophomore forward Danilo Djuricic impressed early for the Crimson, finding two easy baskets at the rim before draining a three at the 15:45 mark to bring the Harvard lead to 13-7 at the 15-minute point.

Early fouls on both ends of the floor for the Crimson significantly disrupted team momentum, with four calls within the first nine minutes of the contest. Harvard put in its second unit after the first seven minutes of play, but sluggish offense led Amaker to quickly re-insert his starters at the 11-minute mark, with the lead narrowed to 18-17.

Djuricic continued to pick up important points for the Crimson, tallying his 10th point in the form of a triple off a baseline feed from junior point guard Christian Juzang at 9:13.

UMass(2-1) kept in toe with the Harvard offense, holding the visitor’s margin within six in the first 12 minutes of the half. Aggressive play at the rim from both junior big Henry Welsh and first year Noah Kirkwood brought back a four-point cushion for the Crimson, but junior guard Luwane Pipkins answered back with nifty footwork at the rim and kept UMass within striking distance. The 2018 A-10 Most Improved Player led the Minutemen with a resounding 18 points in the first frame, followed by six from fifth-year big Rashaan Holloway.

“[Pipkins] is a dynamic offensive player,” Amaker said. “I think the key obviously with us was to be able to guard the other players. I’m not sure we want to be able to contain him or stop him… but we did a really nice job elsewhere and pretty much was the difference for us.”

A triple from junior wing Justin Bassey followed by another easy look at the basket by Welsh carried the Crimson to its largest lead of the half at 7 heading into the final two minutes. UMass coach Matt McCall was markedly infuriated at the team when he called a timeout.

“I would say probably four or five times, [the Crimson] could grab a box of popcorn, ate it, and shot a three I mean, that’s how open they were.” McCall said. “That’s lack of urgency, we’ve got to get better there.”

Before the end of the first half which saw the Crimson bring an eight-point lead, Welsh accomplished a personal first. The Redondo Beach, Calif., native drained his first career-triple in a Harvard uniform, much to the delight of a surprised Crimson bench. Amaker noted postgame that his long-range game was a key offseason priority for the big man.

“I didn’t realize it was first career one,” Amaker said. “We need him to take that when it’s there.”

The beginning of the second frame was defined by Chris Lewis and Luwane Pipkins.

A sloppy first play coming out of halftime for the Minutemen was followed by a Lewis righty hook, but Rutgers transfer Jonathan Laurent answered with a contested trey. Lewis again repeated the same hook shot over Holloway and ensuingly smothered him on the defense end.

“[Holloway]’s a great player, he knows how to screen well and always goes for the offensive rebound,” Lewis said. “It’s always a tough matchup play him but the coaches told me how to do my work early.”

Amaker quickly added, “[Be]cause he is a mountain.”

Lewis limited Holloway to just one basket in the second frame, who finished the night with nine rebounds and seven field goal attempts.

For UMass, it was Pipkins who continued his scoring acuity from the first frame as he quickly added two more buckets. The Minutemen narrowed the lead to five within the first four minutes of the latter frame, but a jumper from captain Corey Johnson — who has so far this season created more opportunities of the dribble — maintained the Crimson lead at seven at the first media timeout.

Harvard’s second unit struggled to produce offensively for Harvard, and much like the first frame, Amaker quickly reinserted Lewis back into the lineup. The Alpharetta, Ga., native immediately responded, quelling the UMass run that saw the margin dwindle to one point with another lay-up.

Pipkins again was the defining shining point for the Minutemen, tallying point 29 and triple number three at the 12:40 mark. UMass then took a brief 50-49 lead — its first of the contest — but Bassey reciprocated with a corner triple on the other end.

Although Djuricic and Lewis led the point tally for much of the game, Bassey was a lead contributor in the rebound and assist columns. The third-year wing finished the contest with seven boards and seven dishes.

“I thought Bassey was terrific just with his physicality and his size,” McCall said. “ I thought offensively in the first half we were consumed with how it was going and it allowed us to be affected defensively.”

Heading into the final six minutes, the Crimson held tight in the paint, forcing missed layups at the rim. Pipkins launched another made triple, but sophomore guard Rio Haskett successfully responded with a three of his own at the 4:55 mark to preserve a four-point margin. Outside of the Pipkins three, Harvard did not allow a single bucket for over four minutes.

A Juzang and-one brought the score to 68-63 heading into the final two minutes, but Holloway responded with an and-one play of his own, but was unable to convert.

With a minute to play, the Crimson lead remained at three. A missed Juzang three was followed by a Haskett foul, bringing Pipkins to the line with 39.1 seconds to play. Pipkins knocked down both.

Coming down to the wire, the ball was placed in Bassey’s hands. Bringing the shot clock to the final seconds, Bassey drove in to the basket and drew a blocking foul at the hands of Laurent. Coach McCall attempted to ice the free throw shooter, but Bassey calmly drained both. 72-69, Harvard.

With nine seconds to go, the ball was unsurprisingly placed in Pipkins’s hands. Instead of going for the triple, Pipkins decided to attack the basket where Harvard allowed for the uncontested two points.

Only three seconds remained, and Harvard closed the tight contest out with two Juzang free throws.

“It seems like this is par for the course for our games against UMass,” Amaker said. “…I was really pleased to see the balance we had, and also ability to share the ball.”

Former Harvard basketball coach Frank Sullivan was calling tonight’s game on NESN. Before the contest, Amaker was able to share a few words with his predecessor.

“He’s a class guy and I’ve known him for quite some time,” Amaker said. “I was happy to see him happy, and see how well he’s doing.”

— Staff writer Henry Zhu can be reached at henry.zhu@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @Zhuhen88.