Travis Shines in Men’s Basketball’s Loss to Saint Mary’s

Perhaps overshadowed by the Harvard men’s basketball team’s collapse to St. Mary’s was the strong play of sophomore forward Jonah Travis.

Making his sixth career start, Travis scored a game-high 19 points—matching a career high—on just 10 shots.

“It was amazing,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said of the sophomore’s performance. “I thought he played his butt off.”

Travis scored nine points in the first 8:24 of play, helping the Crimson jump out to a 16-12 advantage over the heavily favored Gaels.

Before it was all said and done, Travis had added 10 more points and finished the game shooting 8 of 10 from the field.

Travis was quick to credit the play of sophomore Wesley Saunders and freshman Siyani Chambers—the Crimson’s first and second leading scorers this season, respectively—for his success.

“I can kind of hide in the shadows a little bit,” Travis said. “I’m not always the focal point of the scouting report, so when [Saunders and Chambers are] having success, usually that allows me to have some breakout games.”

But after picking up two fouls in the first half, Travis struggled with foul trouble in the second period. And after picking up his fourth foul with 3:36 to play, Travis was sent to the bench with 2:26 remaining and the Crimson clinging to a six-point lead.

Travis returned to the game with 2:08 to go after St. Mary’s pulled within four and eventually fouled out with 1.1 seconds remaining.

“We missed not having him in there with foul trouble and then we fouled out at the end,” Amaker said.

Travis finished with a total of 24 minutes on the court. Sophomore forward Steve Moundou-Missi replaced Travis and finished with eight points on three-of-seven shooting and four rebounds.

His eight points marked Moundou-Missi’s second highest offensive output of the season.

BIG D

In addition to his 14 points, Saunders also contributed on the defensive end.

For 40 minutes, the 6’5” wing covered Saint Mary’s top scorer, senior point guard Matthew Dellavedova. Dellavedova, who entered the contest averaging 18.5 points per game, was held to four points—a season low—on 1-of-13 shooting from the field.

After missing his first seven attempts, Dellavedova finally got on the board off a pair of free throws with 50 seconds remaining in the first period.

But Dellavedova wasn’t on the only Gael struggling offensively. In the opening frame, Saint Mary’s shot 7 of 31 from the field and one of nine from beyond the arc. The Gaels faired better in the second half, finishing the game with a 40 percent field goal percentage—still well below its mark of 51 percent entering the contest.

Mitchell Young and James Walker III paced the Gaels with 16 and 12 points, respectively.

CROWDSURFING

After watching their team struggle throughout the opening frame, the 2847 fans who packed into McKeon Pavilion on New Year’s Eve came alive in the second half.

“You could definitely see how much the players fed off the crowd especially in the closing couple minutes,” Travis said.

But in the opening frame, Amaker felt the Crimson managed to keep the crowd at bay.

“I thought we played well enough where we kept the crowd out of it for the majority of the game,” said Amaker, whose squad led by 14 points at the break.

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.