CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Drew Housman and Jeremy Lin
each had 20 points Saturday night and the Harvard Crimson downed
Ivy League-leading Cornell by a score of 71-70 at Lavietes
Pavilion.
Housman, playing in his final home game on Senior Night, converted
a hotly-contested layup with 2:30 remaining to put Harvard ahead,
71-67. Lost in the final stat sheet was a huge effort from fellow
senior Andrew Pusar who kept a loose ball alive. Then things got
really interesting in front of a near capacity crowd.
Cornell’s Ryan Wittman immediately answered Housman with a
baseline jumper and added one of two free throws shortly afterward
to pull within what turned out to be the final margin. The teams
traded misses and Harvard committed a shot clock violation to give
Cornell one last chance with 35 seconds left. The Big Red held the
ball until 10 seconds left and fed Wittman on the right wing.
Wittman drove middle but was hampered by Lin, forcing an awkward
double clutch shot attempt from the junior. The ball clanged hard
off the backboard but caromed toward the right corner of the gym
where Wittman clung to the ball. Falling out of bounds, Cornell was
granted a timeout with 3.9 seconds left to set up a frantic
finish.
After a timeout, the ball was inbounded to Louis Dale who drove
into Keith Wright and the heart of the Crimson defense. Trying to
draw contact, Dale leaned in but was rejected by Wright as the
Crimson came away with the win.
Harvard, winners of three straight, improves to 13-13 overall and
5-7 in the Ivy League. Cornell will have to wait another week to
possibly clinch its second consecutive league title and falls to
19-9 overall, 9-3 in the league.
The teams traded leads early in a game that never lacked energy and
timely plays. The Big Red took a 35-30 lead on the opening
possession of the second half but Harvard rallied with a 14-1 run
keyed by seven points from Lin. With Harvard now leading 44-36,
Wittman tried to put Cornell on his back and scored 13 points in
just four minutes to regain the lead for the visitors, 55-54, with
11:07 left. Wittman’s hot streak came to an end with a
variety of Harvard players converging on him and the Crimson would
lead for the final 9:33 of play.
Wright finished his evening with 11 points (4-7 FG) and a game-high
eight rebounds going toe-to-toe with seven-footer Jeff Foote, who
scored 12 points but was in foul trouble throughout much of the
game. Housman and Lin finished with four assists each and Harvard
had more assists (12) than turnovers (11). The Crimson also helped
itself with a good night at the charity stripe, shooting
20-for-25.
Wittman scored a game-high 24 on 10-for-18 shooting.
Harvard shot over 59 percent in the second half, making 13 of 22
attempts.
Harvard returns to action next weekend in the final week of Ivy
League play. The Crimson travels to Brown on Friday night and
finishes at Yale on Saturday.
Crimson Turns Back League-Leading Cornell, 71-70
Feb 28, 2009
ACADEMIC INTEGRATION & COMPETITIVE EXCELLENCE
IN DIVISION I ATHLETICS