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M. Hoops Runs Out of Miracles

Harvey beats Lions at buzzer, but can’t repeat feat at Cornell

Junior point guard Pat Harvey is the Harvard men’s basketball team’s “Mr. Clutch,” but even he can only do so much. Harvey led the Crimson to a miraculous comeback in the final minute against Columbia Friday night, but two buzzer-beaters in two nights was too much to ask for.

Harvard (12-8, 5-3 Ivy League) took the first leg of its weekend road trip, 55-52, over the Lions (10-12, 3-5) Friday night on Harvey’s three-pointer at the buzzer. The next night, however, the Crimson fell 63-62 to Ivy doormat Cornell (4-17, 1-7) and significantly hurt its chances for an Ivy title run.

“It was a major let-down on Saturday night,” junior point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman said. “We’ve reset our goals to win each game [from now on].”

Cornell 63, Harvard 62

The Big Red snapped its seven-game losing streak at the expense of the Crimson, who was riding high after the previous night’s exciting finish in New York. Cornell came out with more intensity and energy, jumping out to a quick 14-4 lead in a sloppy offensive game. By halftime, the Big Red had kept Harvard at bay, leading 34-26.

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Though the Crimson picked up the first four points of the second period, Cornell opened up its largest lead of the game at 43-32. The Big Red relied on the offense of guards Wallace Prather and Steve Cobb, who had 17 and 18 points on the night, respectively.

Harvard, as has been the case most of this season, immediately responded with a 14-2 run. Prasse-Freeman’s trey cut the score to 45-43 with ten minutes left, and then Harvey nailed another three-pointer to give the Crimson its first lead of the game.

The one-point edge was short-lived, however, as Cornell scored three straight buckets to regain momentum.

With two minutes left in the game and Cornell clinging to a three-point lead, Prather scored four straight points to make the score 61-54. Harvard employed its oft-successful full-court press and managed to crawl within two points with 20 seconds to go.

But the Crimson missed three straight shots at tying the game, and Cornell converted two free throws.

Still, Harvey was able to nail his fifth three-pointer of the game with 7.8 seconds left to cut the lead to 63-62. Prather was then intentionally fouled, but missed two straight free throws.

Harvey got off a 30-foot jumper at the buzzer, but the magic of the night before was not to be relived, as the shot missed.

“It was rough,” junior forward Sam Winter said. “The way we played...if we could have played that bad and pulled out the win, it would have been something to come away with.”

Harvard shot only 35 percent from the field in Ithaca, though Harvey hit five of eleven three-pointers to finish with 25 points. Senior center Tim Coleman added 17 points and 15 rebounds.

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