Harvard 73, UT-Arlington 56
Coming off of losses in three of its last four games, the Crimson mustered a 10-0 run against the Mavericks (4-7) and barely looked back. The Crimson took a 33-25 lead into halftime and maintained a comfortable lead for most of the second half.
"We weren't ready to play," said UTA Coach Eddie McCarter. "We couldn't even run out offense. We weren't crisp at all."
The Mavericks pulled within eight points midway through the second half but would get no closer. After guard Gabe Isaac buried a short baseline jumper with 9:30 to go in the game, Clemente responded with one of his two three-pointers with the shot clock about to expire. That started Harvard on an 11-2 run from which UTA never recovered.
Harvard played well on both ends of the court, outrebounding the Mavericks 48-31 and holding them to only 37.1 percent shooting while committing just 11 fouls all game. UTA's first free throw did not come until just over three minutes remained in the game.
"Coach kept drilling defense and rebounding into our heads," Clemente said. "They're a really quick team and they're a good one-on-one team, but we just played great team defense."
Mike Scott poured in 17 to lead four Crimson scorers in double digits and Paul Fisher and Dan Clemente each notched a double-double.
Navy 80, Harvard 65
It was close until the end.
When Harvard staked out a 20-9 lead over Navy (5-6) in front of a modest-sized crowd at Lavietes, it looked like it would ride the wave from the second half against Dartmouth to its seventh win of the season.
But the Midshipmen stormed back, taking advantage of poor Harvard shooting to take a 35-32 lead at the half. After hitting on eight-of-10 to start the game, the Crimson closed out the half by hitting just five-of-23 shots from the floor.
Harvard tied the game just after the half, but an 8-0 Navy run early in the second saw to it that the Crimson would never see another lead.
Two shots from the charity stripe by Scott brought the Crimson within five with just over eight minutes to go, but the Midshipmen mounted a 9-0 run late in the second half to break the game open and hand the Crimson the 15-point loss.
Notes
* The game between Harvard and Colgate scheduled for Dec. 20 was canceled due to the death of Red Raiders Coach Jack Bruen.
* Clemente has received four of five Ivy League Rookie of the Week awards this season. The freshman forward averages 13.0 points and 6.5 rebounds through 11 games.
* Harvard's next home game is January 27 against Hartford, its only remaining non-league contest. Its next home Ivy matchup is not until February 6, against Penn.