Box Score
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Junior Ryan Wittman had 24 points, but the Harvard offense was efficient throughout as the Crimson escaped with a 71-70 victory over Cornell on Saturday evening at Lavietes Pavilion. The Crimson (13-13, 5-7 Ivy) shot 52 percent from the floor in picking up a Senior Day victory over the Big Red (19-9, 9-3 Ivy).
Wittman connected on 10-of-18 field goals and added five rebounds and three assists, but only Jeff Foote also reached double figures for the visitors with 12 points. Brian Kreefer had an efficient seven points and three rebounds off the bench, while Alex Tyler notched six points, two steals and two blocked shots. Junior Louis Dale had eight points, eight rebounds and five assists, but shot just 3-of-12 from the floor and committed six turnovers. The Big Red shot just 43 percent from the field after halftime.
The backcourt of Jeremy Lin and Drew Housman controlled the pace throughout and each tallied 20 points and four assists. Housman did his damage from the line, going 7-of-9 as the home team made 20-of-25 free throws, including 14-of-17 in the second half. Keith Wright added 11 points and eight rebounds in the win.
For the third straight year, the game at Lavietes Pavilion came down to the final play, and for the second time in three years, that was to the benefit of the home team. After the Big Red's miraculous comeback from five points down with under 30 seconds to play last year for the win, this one had the same type feel. With the ball and trailing 71-70, Wittman missed a jumper with six seconds, but chased the missed shot down in the corner and was able to call timeout with 3.9 seconds to play. Cornell inbounded the ball to Dale, who took two dribbles into the lane and was bumped by a pair of defenders, but the junior didn't get the call and the Crimson celebrated the upset victory.
Cornell came out of the gates smoking, hitting six of its first eight shots, including a pair of Reeves 3-pointers, to take a 19-10 at the 12:16 mark. The Crimson got right back in the game as Cornell's offense sputtered late, and took the lead on a 3-pointer by Lin with 3:31 left in the half. After a Tyler layup put Cornell back up one at 28-27, Keith Wright answered with a layup. The Big Red responded in kind with Dale's only 3-pointer of the game with 1:59 remaining in the half to make it 31-29, and a Jeff Foote layup on the next possession sent the road team into the break up three.
The second half started with a bang for the Crimson after a Foote jumper in the lane made it a five-point game on the Big Red's first possession. Harvard went on a 14-3 run to grab an eight-point lead (44-36) with 16:40 left. For the next five minutes, it was the Wittman show. The junior hit every conceivable shot imaginable -- a baseline pull-up on an inbounds, a floater in the lane, a 3-pointer off a screen on the wing, a pull-up trey -- to get Cornel lthe lead back at 55-54with 11:07 left. But when Drew Housman hit a pair of shots from the charity stripe with 9:33 left, the defending Ivy champs wouldn't lead again. Cornell would tie twice, the last time at 64-64 when Dale hit a duck-under layup in the lane with 4:25 left.
The visitors had two chances in the final four minutes to hit tying free throws, but both Foote and Wittman missed 1-of-2 shots from the stripe. Wittman's jumper with 2:14 to play cut the four-point deficit in half, but Cornell would only get a free throw by Wittman the rest of the way.
Cornell closes out the regular season next weekend when it meets Penn on Friday, March 6 at 7 p.m. and Princeton on Saturday, March 7 at 7 p.m., with both games taking place at Newman Arena in Bartels Hall.
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