Pictured: Brandyn Curry had all 13 of his points in the
second half of Friday's 74-45 win at Columbia (Associated
Press)
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Harvard men's
basketball team cruised through the first leg of its New York
weekend with a 74-45 victory over Columbia at Levien Gymnasium on
Friday night.
Harvard improves to 14-3, 3-0 Ivy on the season while Columbia
dips to 6-11 overall and 0-3 in the conference after starting its
league season with three games against Cornell and Harvard.
The victory sets up a much-anticipated battle in Ithaca, N.Y. on
Saturday night against the two-time defending Ivy champion Cornell
Big Red, which blasted Dartmouth, 71-37, Friday night. Cornell
(17-3, 3-0 Ivy) was a unanimous preseason favorite to win its
third-straight league crown this year.
Friday's win gave Harvard its seventh-straight victory, a
stretch of success not seen since the 1995-96 season. The team has
already matched its victory output from last season.
Playing in front of a capacity and pro-Harvard crowd, Harvard
jumped on top early and never looked back, methodically extending
its lead through speedy team defense and impressive ball
movement.
Jeremy Lin scored 13 first half points and Brandyn Curry had 13 in
the second for a Harvard team that saw nine players score at least
four points. No starter logged more than 26 minutes (Christian
Webster) and Curry had a team-high 27 minutes coming off the bench.
Speaking of the bench, reserve players scored 35 points all
told.
The first half saw Harvard come out hot with plenty of defensive
pressure. The Crimson connected on 6-of-8 to start in building a
13-5 lead just over five minutes into the game. Noruwa Agho hit a
series of tough shots coming off curl screens and teamed with
Patrick Foley drives to try and keep Columbia in contention. Foul
trouble eventually caught up the Lions however as Harvard connected
on all 10 free throw chances while hitting 57 percent from the
floor (13-23) for a 41-26 lead.
Lin repeatedly carved his way to the rim in the opening half (5-6
FG) and he did not attempt a shot in the second half while sitting
out the final eight minutes.
Agho had 12 points and Foley 10 in the first half on combined
8-for-14 shooting but the rest of the Lions team combined to shot
0-for-5 with four points.
Agho and Foley did not score in the second half as Harvard limited
the Lions to just 19 points.
Harvard shot nearly identical marks in both halves, going
13-of-23 (.565) in the first and 12-of-22 in the second (.545) to
finish at 55.6 percent for the game. Harvard was 8-of-16 from long
range. Columbia, which entered as the fifth-best 3-point shooting
team in the nation, was just 1-for-11 from deep.
