No. 23 Men's Basketball Continues To Surge, Tops Cornell, 71-60

At one point in the second half of the No. 23 Harvard men’s basketball team’s 71-60 win over Cornell Friday night, three freshmen—Steve Moundou-Missi, Wesley Saunders, and Corbin Miller—joined senior co-captains Keith Wright and Oliver McNally on the floor.

In many ways, that lineup, and its opponent, represented how much things have changed in Ivy League basketball in the four years between the freshman seasons of Wright and McNally and those of the Crimson’s talented class of rookies this season.

When the co-captains were freshmen in 2008-09, Cornell was in the middle of a mini-dynasty, on its way to its second Ivy title—it would go to the Sweet Sixteen a year later—while Harvard finished .500.

Fast forward four years, where things are very different for both programs. The Crimson now sits atop the Ivy basketball world, and the Big Red must fight just to finish in the middle of the pack.

Looking for back-to-back championships of its own this season, the Crimson (19-2, 5-0 Ivy) continued to surge in that direction Friday night, winning a program-record 24th consecutive game on its home court.

Sophomore guard Laurent Rivard led the Crimson with 16 points, while junior forward Kyle Casey added 13. Meanwhile, a young Big Red (7-13, 2-3) squad struggled with fouls and turnovers throughout the evening, unable to generate any offensive rhythm before it was too late.

But after a sloppy second half of its own, Harvard left the game feeling it still had a lot to work on.

“We lost focus, [and] I think we relaxed,” Rivard said. “Obviously, that’s something we don’t want to do ever again.”

Harvard went into the break with a 14-point advantage, but Cornell came out with a quick 5-0 run, as Drew Ferry knocked down a three, and following a Casey turnover, Jonathan Gray scored on a transition layup.

“At the beginning of the second half, they came out and I think made a statement that they were going to try to make a run at this,” Amaker said. “I was not very happy with how we responded.... I was perplexed and disappointed with how we came out of the half.”

But Ferry would turn the ball over on the Big Red’s next possession, and McNally found Wright for a dunk at the other end.

Moments later, Casey drove baseline and threw down another slam. On the ensuing Cornell possession, Rivard jumped the passing lane, raced down court, split two defenders, and finished with the layup to put the Crimson up, 45-31.

From there, Harvard would go on a 15-8 run capped by a left corner three from junior Christian Webster to put the Crimson ahead, 60-40, with 5:57 to go.

By then, the contest was out of reach, but Cornell would finish on an 18-9 run, something the home team was not happy about.

“We lost a little concentration,” Casey said. “Not to take anything away from Cornell, because they played a solid game, but we’ve really got to stay focused for a full 40 minutes.”

Harvard looked inside early in the contest, as two early Wright layups—one an and-one—and two Casey free throws gave Harvard a quick 7-2 lead. Cornell fought back on two Gray baskets to tie the game at nine, but the Crimson went on a 16-6 run capped by a Rivard three to go up 25-15. Later, another Rivard long-ball—on which he was fouled but missed the free throw—put the Crimson up, 30-18.

Two Saunders free throws stretched the lead to 14 with 1:24 to go, and the freshman hit a layup at the buzzer to give the Crimson a 38-24 lead heading into the half.

Harvard held Ferry, the Big Red’s leading scorer, to just six points on 2-of-10 shooting.

“We knew they set a lot of screens for him,” Rivard said. “He runs a lot [and] has a really quick release. So we really focused on helping out with screens, having a hand on him, and footstepping.”

Freshman guard Corbin Miller played a season-high 21 minutes for the Crimson but shot zero-for-seven from downtown. The rookie had been 17-for-28 (61%) coming into the contest, which would have led the NCAA if he had qualified with more attempts.

“During the game I just told him, ‘Keep shooting’,” Rivard said. “Tomorrow he’s just got to shoot his first shot like nothing happened, and that’s what great shooters should do.”

Cornell committed 27 fouls, allowing the Crimson to get to the line 34 times. It hit 29 of those free throws, but Amaker was disappointed with his team’s performance on the whole.

“I just wish we could play better and more consistently throughout the game,” he said.

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.