Nearing the Finish Line
Weekend of Wins for Harvard Men’s Basketball
By ELIZABETH GUMMER
The Harvard Crimson showed the Quakers and the Tigers whose house they were playing in this weekend at Lavietes Pavilion, playing at home for the last time this season. Closing out with two wins — and the top ranking in the Ivy League — Harvard is set for success at the Ivy League tournament at Yale on March 16th.
Game one started slow on Friday night. With a score of 0-0 and six missed shots in the first two minutes, students patiently gnawed at free pizza until a Harvard freshman made the first basket of the night, with a two-point layup, setting the tone for the first half of the game — there were only three shots sunk in the first five minutes.
While Danilo Djuricic showed promise with back to back 3-pointers, star player Bryce Aiken had a tough first half, missing four of his five attempted 3-point shots and both attempts at a jump shot. Closing out the half down four points at 22-26, Harvard fans were holding their breaths until the second half began.
Taking back the lead quickly, Rio Haskett and Mason Forbes score two points each, taking the lead for Harvard. The Crimson men took the win with a final score of 59-53, losing the lead only once in the second half.
On Saturday night Harvard honored their graduating players for their annual Senior Night in their game against Princeton. The starting lineup featured seniors Balsa Dragovic, Weisner Perez, Tommy McCarthy, Corey Johnson, and Robbie Feinberg. The first four points of the game were appropriately earned by Corey Johnson from two easy jump shots.
The Tigers held a marginal lead through the second half, but were overcome in a last minute shot by junior Chris Lewis which brought the score to 23-22 for Harvard.
The second half was dominated by the Harvard Crimson, who were only overtaken by the Tigers by a singular point, and for seven seconds, before Aiken took it back with a layup. The score closed out with a Harvard win of 66-58.
The same night Yale played Columbia in New Haven, CT and lost, bringing their conference record down to 9 wins and 3 losses. This loss knocked them down from the first place standing and brought them even with the Harvard team, whose win also gave them a 9-3 record this season.
Next weekend will be Harvard’s last game of the regular conference season. They will be playing at Cornell Friday night and Columbia on Saturday.
Elizabeth Gummer ‘21 (elizabethgummer@college.harvard.edu) will continue to cheer loudly in front of her computer for next weekend’s games.