In that game, freshman forward Earl Hunt scored 39 points and was absolutely unstoppable. On Friday night, the Harvard defense turned Hunt into a harmless spectator.
The Crimson set the tone of the game early, with steals by Gellert and Prasse-Freeman leading to easy points. While center Tim Coleman played poorly, missing some easy layups, Gellert began turning in an all-star performance. His tenacious defense limited Hunt to two points on 1-of-3 shooting in the first half.
With Harvard's constant shifting from a man-to-man to zone defense confused the Bears, Gellert took advantage of sloppy ball-handling to rack up six steals in the first half alone. During Harvard's 12-3 run to end the first half Gellert added in some good passing to finish the half with five assists and only one turnover. He also had six points on 2-of-2 shooting to complete an almost perfect half.
As usual, the Harvard defense helped the Harvard offense. The Crimson's 38-24 halftime lead was due in most part to Brown's 11 turnovers, which led to 17 Harvard points. Turnovers led to aggressive up-court passing that in turn led to wide-open three-point baskets, and Harvard converted 8-of-15 threes, including Clemente's 2-of-2 performance, while Brown's long-range attack was non-existent.
"We were fearless about approaching the three-point line," Sullivan said. "And we've continued to shoot the ball better at home."
Harvard continued to pour it on early in the second half. The stifling defense made Brown's guards hold on to the ball for long periods of time, and the Bears often got poor shots off with under seven seconds left on the shot clock. The shooting of Clemente and Long then helped open Harvard's largest lead of the night at 21 points.
Brown, however, refused to back down and slowly began getting back into the game. The Crimson defense continued to deny the Bears any inside game, but its offense went cold.
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