This was not the way it was supposed to be.
On the last weekend of its most successful season since 1985, everything looked optimistic for the Harvard men's basketball team. Its newly refurbished home, Lavietes Pavilion, will be officially dedicated this afternoon. Junior Kyle Snowden was 18 points away from the 1,000 mark. And with a sweep of Brown and Yale, Harvard would have 15 Division I wins this year, which would tie its most ever.
The games would be almost like a formality, another event on the celebration. But Brown proved otherwise.
The score read 75-62 at the final buzzer last night, but that does the game no justice. Pure and simple, it was a blowout.
"A lot of this has to deal with the way we came out," captain Darren Rankin said. "I think it's a maturing process--this is the first season we've had success. Myself, [senior Mike] Gilmore, [senior] Tarlin Ray--we know what it's like to lose."
Lose Harvard did. The Crimson (14-11, 6-7 Ivy) managed a meager 20 points in the first half, while the Bears (10-15, 5-8) jumped out of the gate with 37. During this time Harvard's shooting never materialized, making 27.6 percent of its shots, and its defense could not stop Brown.
Offensively, the Crimson could not get the ball inside to Snowden, the team's leading scorer and rebounder. And when they did, his touch was off, as the Mather House resident only sunk three of nine shots on the night.
"The thing that Brown does quite well is they get out into the passing lanes better than any other team," Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. "They can create havoc with their defense."
That forced Harvard's perimeter shooters to take more shots, which did not start to fall until the outcome of the game was decided.
The defensive end was just as troublesome for the Crimson. Brown was uncanny from the floor, making 57.8 percent of their shots on the night against a team that gives up an average of 40.
"I think that we tried to have a balanced attack," Brown coach Frank Dobbs said. "Today we were able to do a good job inside early."
Having Eric Blackiston and Brian Lloyd, didn't hurt either. In the teams' previous game this year, a 73-70 Brown win in double-overtime, the two Brown seniors proved to be the difference, making clutch shots all night. The same was true yesterday.
Together they combined to be eight of 11 from three-pointers, contributing to a Bear attack that hit 64.7 percent of its long-range shots. And Lloyd's 19 points were enough for him to get his 1,000th career point.
All this combined to get Brown off to a roaring start. It took five minutes for Harvard to get its first basket, cutting the lead to 15-4.
The Crimson did well to keep the score reasonably close during the rest of the half, causing the Bears to make 10 first-half turnovers. But the offense never picked itself up.
The closest Harvard ever got in the second half was within 11 at 46-35, but a 12-2 Brown run crushed any hopes of a comeback. Brown: Butler 4-8 2-3 13; White 1-2 2-2 4; Lloyd 6-9 2-2 19; Blackiston 5-9 1-2 14; Joseph 6-8 1-1 13; Rountree 1-1 0-0 2; Silas 2-5 4-4 8; Krasinski 1-3 0-0 2. TOTALS 26-45 12-14 75. HARVARD: Hill 2-12 1-2 5; Gilmore 5-9 2-2 16; Weaver 2-5 0-0 4; Scott 3-9 4-4 13; Snowden 3-9 0-0 6; Rankin 2-4 0-0 5; Grancio 5-9 3-4 13. TOTALS: 22-61 10-12 62.
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