Pictured: Kyle Casey had 19 points and 10 rebounds Saturday
at Dartmouth (M. Langdon)
HANOVER, N.H.– Harvard men's
basketball overcame a dismal start to Saturday's game at
Dartmouth as the Crimson survived by erasing an 11-point deficit in
defeating the Big Green at Leede Arena by a score of 62-58.
Harvard improves to 13-3 on the season (2-0 Ivy) while Dartmouth
dips below the .500 mark at home (4-5) and stands at 4-12 overall
and 0-2 in the league. While not pretty, the win was
Harvard's sixth straight, matching the program's best
stretch of victories in 13 years as the Crimson showed growth by
overcoming one of its most inconsistent games of the year.
The game was played at Dartmouth's pace and it marked just
the third time this season the Crimson had been held under 70
points.
Jeremy Lin had 19 points and six assists while Kyle Casey also had
19 points (6-7 FG) to go with 10 rebounds. Keith Wright added 13
points in a strong showing on 6-of-9 shooting.
Harvard turned the ball over just 10 times in the game and
outrebounded DC, 44-35.
Harvard is back in action next weekend in a pivotal Ivy road
series. The Crimson travels to Columbia on Friday night to match up
with the nation's top 3-point shooting team in the Lions. On
Saturday the Crimson travels to Cornell who was the unanimous
favorite to win the Ancient Eight this season and has only
heightened expectations for itself after a 16-3 start to the year.
After an early basket, the rust from Harvard's 13-day
layoff was evident as the Crimson started 1-for-11 with four
turnovers as the Big Green scored 13-straight points at the 12:15
mark before.
Harvard crept within one possession of the Big Green with 6:02
left in the first half as Lin got on the board with a traditional
3-point play to make it 20-17. After a nice feed underneath for DC,
Lin connected from well beyond the arc to make it 22-20.
Wright factored in the next six points starting with a precision
move inside as the sophomore changed hands on a double clutch layup
and then stole a ball at midcourt. He fed a streaking Brandyn Curry
to convert a layup for a 24-22 lead at the 3:09 mark. Wright then
pulled down a lob pass in traffic and converted another nifty layup
before Christian Webster added another tough bank shot in traffic
for a 28-22 margin. After DC scored five straight, Lin wound down
the clock and drew plenty of attention before kicking out to Casey
in the corner with the freshman draining a triple at the buzzer for
a 31-27 lead.
Harvard used three mini spurts of 6, 7 and 8-0 runs in the
opening half to take the lead.
A close second half saw Dartmouth take a brief lead as the teams
stayed with one possession of each other until the 10:50 mark when
Casey delivered a monster alley-oop dunk and Lin streaked past a
double team for a layup and a 42-36 lead.
Two minutes later, a mid-range jumper from Casey and four
straight from Lin – including a driving left-handed layup and
a double clutch floater made it 48-37 with 7:32 left. After the
media timeout, Wright went back to work with a baby hook inside as
the Crimson mounted a 24-point turnaround from its first half woes.
Dartmouth got within 57-51 on a step-back jumper from Jabaari
Trotter with 43 seconds left and then 61-58 on a long triple from
Trotter but Harvard was in the double bonus and was able to run out
the clock despite missing seven free throws down the stretch.
NOTES: Jeremy Lin recorded his 200th career
steal in the first half, becoming one of just three Harvard players
in the 200club … Lin moved into the school's top 10 in
scoring as well with 1,281 points, passing Keith Sedlack '66
… Harvard's last six-game win streak came back in
1996-97.
