The Harvard men's basketball team trailed 31-24 at halftime. After the break, the Crimson began to climb back, narrowing a seven point deficit to a mere point at 36-35.
Just when it seemed the juggernaut was about to get rolling and the Crimson would take command of the game, it stopped entirely.
Junior forward Tim Hill hit a three pointer at the 11:25 mark, but Harvard did not score again until freshman Dan Clemente drained a three with 1:37 remaining in the game. Yes, that is nearly 10 minutes without offense.
No field goals. No layups. No foul shots--Harvard did not even go to the line throughout the entire game. The offense was completely dumbfounded. All the while Northeastern expanded its lead to 46-35 and would hold on to win 47-45 at Lavietes Pavillion.
"I don't really know what happened," Hill said. "You have to credit their defense, but we just could not make any shots."
The hardest to explain was the lack of free throws. The Crimson was not awarded a trip to the charity stripe all evening. It made a huge difference in the score as Northeastern went 11 for 16 from the line--nearly a quarter of its offense.
"It was very strange that no one went to the foul line at all," Hill said. "We did not get any calls from the refs, but you have to adjust."
Despite this drought, the Crimson nearly pulled away with a win.
After Clemente finally scored, junior guard Mike Beam quickly hit another three and suddenly it was a five point game. A problem occurred with the clock that should have read 58 seconds instead of 52.
When Hill hit layups at the 10 and two second marks to pull with a basket, Harvard wished it had those phantom six seconds. Time ran out though on the Crimson.
"Defensively, we raised our game to the level of Northeastern," said Captain Mike Scott. "We just could not make the shots to win."
Defensively the Crimson was fine. The Huskies themselves could only shoot 36.2 percent from the field. However, they scored enough to win. It marked the first time in 28 games that Harvard has lost a game when holding a team to under 40-percent shooting.
The inability to make shots was evident in nearly every starter's stat sheet. Scott managed only four points, going 2 for 10 from the field. Hill added 10, but went 4 of 14.
Junior center Paul Fisher was the only offensive bright spot turning in a career best 14 points.
Probably the biggest disappoint from the game, was the Crimson's poor percentage from behind the three point arc. Entering the game at 47 percent (fifth best in the nation), it could only manage seven buckets out of 21 attempts.
"We have great shooters on this team," Scott said. "We just have to continue to practice and hope we make more than we miss. It just did not happen tonight."
After going a stellar 5-0 to open the season, the Crimson now finds itself in the midst of a two-game losing streak. Harvard must now quickly get back on track as it next faces Dartmouth in the Ivy League opener, a game it has dropped in each of the past two seasons.
"This upcoming game is huge," Scott said. "If we want to accomplish our goals and win the Ivy, we have got to start off right."
Harvard does not seem discouraged by the past two losses. Rather it views it as a learning experience to build upon.
"I think these past two games have been good because they have been eye opening," Scott said. "They have let us know where we stand and I think we are able to rise to the level of the big teams. We just fell a little short."
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