Losing Streak Stretches to Five for Men's Basketball

By Jessica T. Lee, Contributing Writer February 26, 2001

Harvard men's basketball dropped to both Princeton and Penn this weekend, extending its losing streak to five games, a slide that began with a heartbreaking loss against Princeton at home two weekends ago.

The 70-47 loss against Penn (11-15, 8-3 Ivy) and the 62-48 defeat against Princeton (13-10, 8-3) put the Crimson (12-12, 5-7) in sixth place in the Ivy standings.

Penn 70, Harvard 47

Penn held Harvard scoreless for the first 5:20 and never relinquished the lead.

Penn shot 44 percent from the field on the night, while Harvard shot only 24 percent, including a 9-35 second half.

With Penn leading 23-5 in the middle of the first frame, the Harvard offense woke up with a run that left the score at 24-16 with 4:03 left in the first half.

In the second half, the Crimson cut Penn's 22- point lead down to 13 with 7:36 remaining before Penn took control of the game with 8-12 free-throw shooting down the stretch and a defense that limited the Crimson to only 7 points for the rest of the game.

Lamar Plummer led the Quakers with 23 points on 8-14 shooting, including a 7-11 performance from behind the three-point line.

Senior forward Dan Clemente was one of the few bright spots for Harvard, giving the Crimson its first points of the game off of free throws and scoring 20 of the team total 47 points.

Sophomore guards Pat Harvey and Elliot Prasse-Freeman each scored eight points, but Prasse-Freeman went 0-6 from behind the arc.

"We played good defense but we couldn't make a basket," said sophomore guard Pat Harvey. "The same thing happened with Princeton; we kept it close defensively."

Princeton 62, Harvard 48

Harvard kept the game against Princeton close until the second half. With the score tied 35-35, Princeton went on an 18 point run during which Harvard scored 3 points and committed 4 turnovers.

"We started out well, but they went on a run. They just ran away with it at the end," Harvey said.

Princeton began their conclusive run with two three-point shots, and their defense held the Crimson at a single basket out of 14 attempts to finish it. Clemente led Harvard with 18 points.

Princeton and Penn had been contending with Yale for first place, but the games of this past weekend knocked Yale (10-14, 7-4) into a tie for second place with Brown (13-11, 7-4).

Princeton and Penn are still tied for first and are seeking an NCAA berth. The Quakers and Tigers tip-off this weekend.

With the last games of the season coming up this weekend against Columbia and Cornell, the men's team hopes to end on a high note.

"We're on a little skid," Harvey said. "We want to put an end to it and come out and win those two games. We want to end on a positive note and send Dan [Clemente] and Bryan Parker out winning."