Nearly two hours later, a similar set gave Harvard the lead once more.
Following a missed three from Brown freshman forward Leland King, forward Kyle Casey corralled the rebound and headed up the court. The senior found Moundou-Missi in the middle of the paint, who promptly turned around and hit the baby jumper, giving Harvard a two-point advantage with 3:39 left in overtime.
From that moment on, the Bears did not come within two points, and the Crimson held out for its final league victory of the year.
APPROACHING MADNESS
After Harvard clinched an invitation to the NCAA Tournament with Friday’s win, the only implications for Saturday night’s game centered on seeding and momentum.
Last season, the Crimson entered the Big Dance on a two-game winning streak, defeating Columbia and Cornell at home in the final weekend of regular season play. The rest is familiar—Harvard upset the University of New Mexico in the second round of the Tournament, 68-62, earning its first March Madness win in program history.
This year, however, Harvard will be riding an even greater run heading into the Tourney.
The Crimson is currently on an eight-game winning streak, and completed its best-ever record in Ivy play at 13-1.
“We definitely have a good thing going [in terms of] momentum right now, but we got to get to the Tournament and play that first game like any other game,” Rivard said. “[We] just [have to] prepare for that game like we’ve been doing all season, and hopefully build momentum [from there]."
While Harvard knows that it will be playing postseason ball, who the squad will match up with remains a mystery until Selection Sunday on March 16th.
“We’re fortunate to know we’re going to be in the postseason, [but] you never know what style you’re going to have to go against,” Amaker said. “[But] we’ve shown that we can line them up and play a lot of different ways, and not only play but be successful.”
—Staff writer Juliet Spies-Gans can be reached at juliet.spies-gans@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twiiter @JulietSpiesGans.