Men's Basketball Falls to Vermont, 85-78

With 1:32 to play in Tuesday night’s contest at Lavietes Pavilion, sophomore wing Wesley Saunders stole the ball on the Crimson’s full court press and found rookie point guard Siyani Chambers. The freshman quickly drew a foul and knocked down both of his free throw attempts to pull the Harvard men’s basketball team within three points of the Vermont.

But that was as close as Harvard would come to a victory, as the Catamounts pulled away to secure the win, 85-78.

On the next possession, Vermont guard Sandro Carissimo—who finished the game with a career-high 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting—knocked down an open three pointer to push his team’s lead back up to six at 81-75 with 1:17 remaining in the game.

From there, it was all free throws. Vermont knocked down four-of-six from the line to close the game.

The Crimson struggled from the free throw line all night, knocking down just 21-of-32 attempts, a mark of 66 percent.

Harvard entered the second half down, 48-34, but quickly climbed back into the game with a run that included two three-pointers in the first three minutes of the frame.

Harvard led the Catamounts, 13-9, after 4:17 in the first half, but a 9-0 Vermont run in the following 4:14 gave the visitors a lead it would not relinquish for the remainder of the half.

The Catamounts shot 73 percent from the field in the opening frame, knocking down 19-of-26 attempts and six of nine from three-point range.

Saunders led the Crimson with a career-high 21 points.

-Check thecrimson.com for updates.