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Back before the introduction of the Ivy Madness tournament, head coach Tommy Amaker used to tell his team that the league was won on performances like tonight when Harvard (9-13, 4-5 Ivy) dominated Columbia (12-10, 1-8 Ivy) 87-75. With teams typically playing two consecutive games in under 24-hours, the outcome on a Saturday night could define a team’s momentum from the weekend regardless of the outcome from the night before.
While the league winner is no longer determined exclusively by standings, the Saturday night saying holds true. Despite a statement win against Cornell on Friday, Harvard entered Saturday’s contest against Columbia locked into a tight battle for a spot in the Ivy Madness tournament.
Two of the Crimson’s closest competitors, Brown (12-10, 4-5 Ivy) and Dartmouth (12-10, 6-3 Ivy), also won on Friday night, putting the pressure on coach Tommy Amaker and his team to beat Columbia in hopes of closing the two-game gap to postseason qualification.
Led by a career-high 31 points from sophomore forward Thomas Batties II, who shot 12-15 from the floor and 4-6 from three point range, breaking his career high for a second consecutive night, Harvard cruised to a victory over the Lions.
“What a game by Thomas,” reflected coach Amaker. “That was a career game for him, just so efficient and productive in every different way.”
“His presence on both ends, you know, has been tremendous for our team,” added Amaker. “Certainly, tonight was just a big showcase of that.”
Columbia came to Harvard looking to play, and despite entering the game as 2.5 point underdogs, found themselves up 11-7 with four minutes played after some quality offense.
Any hopes the Lions may have had of building a significant early lead, however, were quickly extinguished by Batties. The sophomore, coming off a career high 21-points against Cornell on Friday night, kicked off his evening with a pair of back to back threes within 40 seconds.
A layup from junior co-captain Chandler Piggé gave the Crimson its first lead of the night, 12-11, and after an unanswered 7-0 individual run from co-captain Evan Nelson, Harvard’s lead was up to six, 19-13.
In the midst of that sequence was an emphatic block from Batties, who would go on to record a game-high three blocks on the night.
As the Crimson sought to build up a bigger lead, the shots kept falling. Senior guard Louis Lesmond cashed in two three pointers, before another pair of layups from both Batties and Nelson pushed the lead to 12, 34-22.
Coach Amaker called for a timeout after an old-fashioned three point play and a darting layup from Columbia cut the lead to seven with 4:45 left in the half.
First-year guard Robert Hinton responded with a fading long two and a Batties added yet another three pointer for Harvard to bring the lead back to 12, 39-27. Nelson responded to the Lion’s next five points with five of his own, keeping the lead, 44-32.
Columbia couldn’t convert on the final play of the half, retaining the Crimson’s 12 point lead heading into halftime.
All-in all Harvard shot a blistering 71% from the field in the first half, including 7-9 or 78% from three point range.
Thomas Batties was perfect from the field through the break, making all 6 of his field goal attempts, including three from beyond the arc.
“My coach lit a fire under me,” said Batties after the game. “It’s just trusting my teammates. It’s really the same formula that worked last night, I just happened to have more points today. I’m always going to trust my game. Everybody that is behind me tells me to do the same – have confidence. That’s just what I’m going out and doing. Just attacking,” he added.
Both teams started the second half strong. The Crimson were led by Lesmond, who knocked down another pair of threes and bullied his way inside with a hook shot to double his point tally on the night to 16 and maintain the lead, 52-44.
Hinton had his jumper blocked, but recovered, rebounded, and recycled the ball back to Batties, who cashed in on yet another three to break his career high, with 22 points and 13:23 still left to play.
The rising star wasn’t satisfied though, muscling his way inside and scoring an and one, converting the free throw to give Harvard its biggest lead of the game, 69-52. A few sequences later, Batties would record another huge block, before freshman guard Austin Hunt found him free for a layup inside the paint for two more.
Harvard managed to maintain its comfortable edge for the rest of the second half. Hunt wanted in on the scoring action too — cashing in a corner three to put his team up 80-64, with 3:43 to play, much to the joy of the Crimson bench.
Columbia attempted to rally late, daring Harvard to make its free throws and seal the game, but it would do just that.
After Saturday’s other games around the league, Harvard remains tied for fifth place with Brown, but is now just one game behind both Princeton and Cornell, who were both blown out by Yale and Dartmouth respectively.
Now with just five games remaining, the Crimson will head south for a final road stretch, playing crucial back-to-back away matches at Princeton and Penn next weekend to keep its postseason hopes alive. Harvard will then return to Lavities for a three-game homestand to close out the regular season.
– Staff Writer Alexander K. Bell can be reached at alexander.bell@thecrimson.com.
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