Pictured: Jeremy Lin scored 19 points Saturday night in
Harvard's loss at Cornell.
ITHACA, N.Y. – Turnovers plagued the Harvard men's
basketball team at Newman Arena on Saturday night as Cornell won
the battle of first place by a score of 86-50. Cornell used a 16-0
first half run and a 17-0 second half run to secure the win.
Harvard (14-4, 3-1 Ivy) returns to action next weekend with a pair
of pivotal games against Princeton (11-5, 2-0 Ivy) and Penn with
both games being anticipated sellouts.
Cornell (18-3, 4-0 Ivy), winners of 16 of its last 17 overall and
its last 18 Ivy games at home, will return to Newman next weekend
against Yale and Brown.
The good news for Harvard is that it did not have to win in Ithaca.
The Crimson got its weekend split and will have a home date against
the Big Red on Feb. 19.
In the first half, Harvard looked every bit the young team on its
first lengthy Ivy road trip. The
Crimson turned the ball over 14 times in the first 20 minutes and
Cornell took full advantage in using a 16-0 run for a comfortable
38-24 halftime lead.
Cornell hit on its first six from the floor (three 3's) in
grabbing a 15-8 lead at 15:55 and 19-10 less than seven minutes in.
Harvard rattled off seven straight to trail by just two following a
second chance triple from Dee Giger but more turnovers led to
Cornell's decisive run.
Harvard got within 10 points twice in the second half with plenty
of time remaining but followed its spurts with more turnovers as
Cornell kept the Crimson at an arm's length. The last time
Harvard got within 10 was at 46-36 with 12:55 left only to see
Cornell scored 17 straight. From that point on, Cornell rode the
good feelings as virtually everything that happened went in its
favor.
All told, Harvard committed 25 turnovers and Cornell responded with
12 3-pointers.
Jeremy Lin led Harvard with 19 points (6-9 FG, 7-8 FT) while Jeff
Foote led Cornell with 16 points and nine rebounds.
