NOTEBOOK: Despite Comeback, Men's Basketball Unable To Close Out Cornell

Despite overcoming a 15-point halftime deficit, the Harvard men’s basketball team (9-10, 1-2 Ivy League) fell to Cornell (8-9, 1-2) at home on Friday, 77-65. The Big Red, which was playing without star Robert Hatter, was led by 33 points from freshman guard Matt Morgan.

COMING OUT STRONG

The Crimson went into the intermission after being steamrolled by a 21-5 Cornell run to end the first frame. The Big Red had Harvard’s number on both ends as the smaller Cornell lineup was running the floor with ease while the Crimson could not buy a bucket on the offensive end. However, it only took Harvard 7:01 to reclaim the lead after halftime.

Playing exclusively its starters for the first nine-plus minutes of the second half, the Crimson roared to a 50-46 advantage, holding the Big Red to just six points. During the 25-6 run, Harvard was led by 10 points from junior forward Zena Edosomwan. The Los Angeles native was quieted by Cornell in the first half and only played 13 minutes despite not being in foul trouble.

“They made a lot of really easy plays for me, and I thought for me personally, my mentality was just to go up and try to dunk it,” Edosomwan said. “If I’m not going to make free throws, then let me get and-ones. [I was] just being a little bit more aggressive and they did a good job, because obviously they like to double team and trap a lot, so once you kind of break that, there’s an easy hole.”

The offense started on the defensive end as the Crimson was able to generate stops it could not get in the first half. The team also remained calm against the Big Red’s full-court pressure, leading to easy baskets on the offensive end.

“We scouted it, we knew they were going to try and speed up the game,” freshman point guard Tommy McCarthy said. “We knew we were going to have to do a lot of ball fakes, come to the ball, but I thought we did a good job of breaking the press. I don’t think it sped us up too much.”

NO BENCH HELP

Despite using five players off of his bench, Harvard coach Tommy Amaker received zero points from his reserves. While Edosomwan, McCarthy, and freshman guard Corey Johnson combined for 55 points, Harvard’s bench posted an 0-for-11 shooting clip for the contest.

“We really tried to stick with a certain core group of guys in the second half and ride it through, and it brought us back in it,” Amaker said. “We got the lead, and you’re thinking maybe we’re going to have enough to close it.”

Senior forward Patrick Steeves, the team’s sixth man, has scored just five points over the team’s last two games. The Montreal native averaged 9.6 points per game in the other 13 games in which he has appeared this season.

Junior guard Corbin Miller went 0-for-3 from three-point range in 18 minutes. After it appeared that Miller would take over the lion’s share of the point guard minutes following 25-plus minute performances in the team’s first five games of the new calendar year, Amaker has resorted back to the freshman McCarthy of late.

After senior forward Agunwa Okolie picked up his fourth foul, the Crimson had to resort to its bench once again and began unraveling on the defensive end. With Miller primarily guarding him, Morgan had 14 of his 33 points after Okolie left with 8:11 to play. The lack of stability on the defensive end allowed Cornell to hang around with Harvard, with the teams often trading baskets. When Okolie returned with 1:57 to play, the Crimson found itself down two, the closest it would get.

“We were scrambling there...because he can guard that kid. Maybe I should have just left him in there,” Amaker said.

—Staff Writer Stephen Gleason can be reached at stephen.gleason@thecrimson.com.