“We thought we had a strategy for him, but it didn’t work,” Williams said. “J.P. really did a pretty doggone good job, but he was really, really hard to guard.”
As large as Saunders’s presence was during the initial stages of the night, it loomed largest at the finish. After Harvard fell down 14 to start the second half, he either assisted on or scored 12 of the next 18 points as Harvard cut the deficit to nine. It was his jumper that cut the lead to two after a Paige three with 3:23 to go appeared to be the dagger.
As the game ended, the Crimson went right back to him. With 40 seconds left and the game tied, he sprinted around a Tar Heel hedge and found Miller in the corner. The Crimson’s second-best three-point shooter passed up the open look, flipping the ball straight to Chambers.
The junior, whose four-point play gave Harvard its first (and only) lead of the night 30 seconds earlier, didn’t hesitate—going straight for the jugular. The ball clanged off the back iron, his shot 17 seconds later doing the same.
After North Carolina center Kennedy Meeks missed a free throw, Harvard put the ball in its star’s hands. Saunders hesitated, chose not to drive, and went for the win. The shot—which afterwards the senior admitted “felt kind of good”—hit the back of the rim.
“We wanted it in Wesley’s hands,” Amaker said. “The way he’s been playing, [the way] he played tonight, he was outstanding. I thought he was as good as anybody that played in our game here this evening.”
MOVING FORWARD
At the postgame podium, the Crimson talked about the end of an era. The seniors—who totaled 41 points and all but eight rebounds—won four Ivy League championships. They were part of the Crimson’s first NCAA Tournament trip since the Ivy League was founded, its first win in that span, and established a new reign of league control. The team lost just nine Ancient Eight games over the last four years, and rescued a title from the jaws of defeat this season.
“I wouldn’t rather go out there and battle with any other group of guys,” Saunders sad. “Everybody is like family. We’ve been through good times, bad times, and, I mean, it’s just been a blessing that I’ve been able to be a part of this.
The game put on display what the Crimson loses—a stable cadre of big men the likes of which it cannot replace. The only non-senior big man to get minutes, sophomore Zena Edosomwan, was largely ineffective aside from a pair of wide-open dunks—dragging down just one rebound in eight minutes.
Seniors Kenyatta Smith and Jonah Travis held their own against North Carolina’s imposing front line, hounding the starting frontcourt Meeks and Jackson into nine combined turnovers and helping Harvard bring down 12 offensive rebounds—the same number as the Tar Heels.
“I’m really proud of the senior class,” Chambers said. “They left a great legacy. I learned so much from them, and I can’t thank them enough.”
—Staff writer David Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com.