The frenetic pace and action-packed final minutes of regulation and overtime were a far cry from the majority of the contest. While the lead changed 18 times on the afternoon, the teams had only combined for 81 points through the game’s first 30 minutes. The first half featured 16 turnovers and only 20 made field goals.
“We still need to do a better job, even if teams score against us, we need to get it out, get it in, and get it up, and we didn’t do that very effectively this afternoon," Amaker said. "We’re hopeful that we’ll get better at it and transition the ball a little better on defense."
While the guards stole the show down the stretch, an intriguing matchup reared its head early on. After being tasked with covering all 215 pounds of MIT forward Tim Roberts two nights ago, Harvard forward Chris Lewis matched up against 6’11”, 310-pound Rashaan Holloway on Sunday. Both players finished with 15 points, Lewis on 11 attempts and Holloway on 13.
“They are great players, their bigs,” Lewis said. “They know what they specialize in, they attack the basket each time the shot goes up on offense and defense. Holloway is an amazing player, great footwork, knows exactly how to play within himself.”
For a UMass team that only returned six players from last season’s team and features four ineligible transfers and a walk-on, on paper, the game did not seem like the barnburner that it turned out to be. Turnovers and poor shooting plagued the Crimson for much of the afternoon and Pipkins and Anderson managed to keep the Minutemen in the game.
As he did in many close games last season, Amaker deferred to Aiken with the game on the line and it paid off. The dagger on Sunday afternoon was another chapter in the book heroic performances by Aiken, who last year willed his team to dramatic wins over Houston and Yale and nearly did so in last season's Ivy League Tournament.
“I think just having that experience from last season under our belt and having that pit in our stomach from [last year’s Yale game], there was no way we would let this game slip away from us," Aiken said. "We came in here today and just had to battle. There was no way we would let it get away from us.”
—Staff writer Stephen J. Gleason can be reached at stephen.gleason@thecrimson.com.