Senior Drew Housman and junior Jeremy Lin shared the team lead with 20 points in Saturday night’s 71-70 victory over Ivy League-leading Cornell. Housman also posted four assists in the game. But perhaps Housman’s greatest contribution was his tough defensive coverage of last year’s Player of the Year, Louis Dale, who was held to a weak 3-of-12 shooting on the night.By Brian A. Campos
The Crimson
March 2, 2009
With the crowd roaring for defense and the home team up by one, it was up to the Crimson (13-13, 5-7 Ivy) to come up with a stop against the defiant Big Red (19-9, 9-3).
Cornell junior Ryan Wittman shot the ball with less than ten seconds to play, but Harvard junior Jeremy Lin made it hard for him to get a good look. The ball bounced off the rim and headed towards the stands when Wittman recovered the rebound, calling for a controversial time out as he fell out of bounds.
“We didn’t want to do anything that was going to bail them out,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “We wanted no silly fouls or anything like that.”
The Big Red then had 3.9 seconds left to take a final shot. Cornell inbounded the ball to guard Louis Dale, who drove straight into Crimson freshman Keith Wright, trying to draw contact. Wright, however, swatted the ball away as the clock wound down, giving Harvard its second straight victory this weekend, by a final score of 71-70.
“We kept huddling up and saying that we needed to buckle down,” senior Drew Housman said. “It was great to see that because I personally have lost a lot of games coming down the wire like that in my career, so it was really cool to have one go the other way, especially tonight.”
Seniors Evan Harris, captain Andrew Pusar, and Housman won their final game at home in a close encounter with Cornell that has become typical as of late. The previous two Harvard–Cornell matchups at Lavietes Pavilion have ended by the same one point margin with the teams splitting the pair of contests. This time around it was Harvard taking the win in front of a near-capacity crowd.
The Big Red started out the game strong, racing to an 8-2 lead. But an emphatic dunk by Wright in the 16th minute signaled to Cornell that the Crimson wasn’t going to repeat its lackluster first-half performance in Ithaca two weeks ago. Harvard started chipping away when the score was 19-12 with a clutch three pointer by freshman Oliver McNally followed by a layup from Lin. Housman was then fouled and made both free throws, getting Harvard within striking distance.
Cornell tried to pull away, scoring two baskets, but freshman Peter Boehm responded with a three pointer. The Big Red wasted another possession to keep the Crimson at bay, and Lin made them pay, giving Harvard its first lead of the game at 27-26 with a trey from long distance. But Cornell ended up finishing the last three and a half minutes of the half on a 7-3 run, taking back the lead.
It was all Crimson from the beginning of the second half, with the team flexing its offensive muscle with a 14-3 run. But Wittman had other plans, keeping the Big Red in the game and giving it a brief 55-54 lead with two three pointers and jumper. Harvard responded with a layup from Pusar, and the two teams continued trading baskets throughout the rest of the half. Free throw shooting proved to be key in the final stretch, with the Crimson going 14-for-17 compared to Cornell’s 8-for-14. Cornell shot a measly 56.3 percent from the free throw line for the game.
Housman converted a layup with two minutes left to give Harvard its final basket. Down 71-67, the Big Red attempted to pull out the comeback, led by Wittman once again. He made a jumper and then had a chance to tie the game up after getting fouled by Wright.
Wittman made his first free throw, but couldn’t come through on the second. The Crimson got the ball back, but it wasted a final opportunity to solidify its lead. Housman ran the clock down and didn’t get off his three-point shot in time, hindered by a feisty Cornell defense. But the Harvard defense came up big, giving the Crimson its third-straight win.
Housman and Lin had strong showings, each tallying 20 points and four assists.
“I just can’t say enough about the way how Housman has played for us over the last few weeks,” Amaker said. “I think he’s been the catalyst for our team. [Cornell] is a very good basketball team, a tough team, and with the way we’ve been playing lately and to win this way, we’re very proud of our kids right now.”
Cornell junior Ryan Wittman shot the ball with less than ten seconds to play, but Harvard junior Jeremy Lin made it hard for him to get a good look. The ball bounced off the rim and headed towards the stands when Wittman recovered the rebound, calling for a controversial time out as he fell out of bounds.
“We didn’t want to do anything that was going to bail them out,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “We wanted no silly fouls or anything like that.”
The Big Red then had 3.9 seconds left to take a final shot. Cornell inbounded the ball to guard Louis Dale, who drove straight into Crimson freshman Keith Wright, trying to draw contact. Wright, however, swatted the ball away as the clock wound down, giving Harvard its second straight victory this weekend, by a final score of 71-70.
“We kept huddling up and saying that we needed to buckle down,” senior Drew Housman said. “It was great to see that because I personally have lost a lot of games coming down the wire like that in my career, so it was really cool to have one go the other way, especially tonight.”
Seniors Evan Harris, captain Andrew Pusar, and Housman won their final game at home in a close encounter with Cornell that has become typical as of late. The previous two Harvard–Cornell matchups at Lavietes Pavilion have ended by the same one point margin with the teams splitting the pair of contests. This time around it was Harvard taking the win in front of a near-capacity crowd.
The Big Red started out the game strong, racing to an 8-2 lead. But an emphatic dunk by Wright in the 16th minute signaled to Cornell that the Crimson wasn’t going to repeat its lackluster first-half performance in Ithaca two weeks ago. Harvard started chipping away when the score was 19-12 with a clutch three pointer by freshman Oliver McNally followed by a layup from Lin. Housman was then fouled and made both free throws, getting Harvard within striking distance.
Cornell tried to pull away, scoring two baskets, but freshman Peter Boehm responded with a three pointer. The Big Red wasted another possession to keep the Crimson at bay, and Lin made them pay, giving Harvard its first lead of the game at 27-26 with a trey from long distance. But Cornell ended up finishing the last three and a half minutes of the half on a 7-3 run, taking back the lead.
It was all Crimson from the beginning of the second half, with the team flexing its offensive muscle with a 14-3 run. But Wittman had other plans, keeping the Big Red in the game and giving it a brief 55-54 lead with two three pointers and jumper. Harvard responded with a layup from Pusar, and the two teams continued trading baskets throughout the rest of the half. Free throw shooting proved to be key in the final stretch, with the Crimson going 14-for-17 compared to Cornell’s 8-for-14. Cornell shot a measly 56.3 percent from the free throw line for the game.
Housman converted a layup with two minutes left to give Harvard its final basket. Down 71-67, the Big Red attempted to pull out the comeback, led by Wittman once again. He made a jumper and then had a chance to tie the game up after getting fouled by Wright.
Wittman made his first free throw, but couldn’t come through on the second. The Crimson got the ball back, but it wasted a final opportunity to solidify its lead. Housman ran the clock down and didn’t get off his three-point shot in time, hindered by a feisty Cornell defense. But the Harvard defense came up big, giving the Crimson its third-straight win.
Housman and Lin had strong showings, each tallying 20 points and four assists.
“I just can’t say enough about the way how Housman has played for us over the last few weeks,” Amaker said. “I think he’s been the catalyst for our team. [Cornell] is a very good basketball team, a tough team, and with the way we’ve been playing lately and to win this way, we’re very proud of our kids right now.”
By Ted Kirby
The Crimson
March 1, 2009
In their final game at Lavietes Pavilion, seniors Drew Housman, Andrew Pusar, and Evan Harris put in one of their best collective efforts in their four years on the Harvard men’s basketball team. The trio lead the Crimson to a thrilling one-point win over league-leading Cornell before lots of family and friends on Senior Night.
Housman, playing in his team-record 111th game, paced the team with a shared team-best 20 points and played excellent defense on reigning league Player of the Year Louis Dale. Pusar, the team’s captain, went 31 minutes, including 19 in the second half during which he scored all five of his points and helped spearhead Harvard’s tenacious defensive effort, as the high-flying visitors made just 13-of-30 shots after the break. Big man Harris had six points and five rebounds while battling the taller and deeper Big Red frontcourt.
“We talked about having to fight and compete because we knew that was how Cornell would play,” Crimson coach Tommy Amaker said. “I thought we brought that, and I thought our seniors led us in every way. I was very pleased for those guys.”
For Housman, this was the fourth straight game he led or co-led the team in scoring. His offensive game was all over the court, scoring inside, outside, and from the foul line, where he was 7-of-9. After eight points before halftime, he was nearly perfect after the break, making 4-of-5 field-goal shots. He started scoring a minute-and-a-half in, driving by for a layup to give Harvard its first lead of the half, 36-35. Seven minutes later, he faked and drove to the lane and buried a shot to put his team up 54-50. His third basket of the half came with eight minutes to play. Dribbled around for an open look, he nailed a shot as the shot clock ran down to make it 61-58 in the Crimson’s favor.
“I can’t say enough about the way Housman has played for us these past few weeks,” Amaker said. “He’s been the catalyst for our team.”
Housman scattered free throws around those baskets, including a clutch pair with his team down 57-56, when he shook off a missed front end of a one-and-one situation on the previous possession to nail both ends and go back in front. He added four assists, including two on consecutive possessions in the first half when he found teammates for threes and erased a 26-21 deficit. On the defensive end, he frequently marked the explosive Dale and helped limit the star point guard to an ugly 3-of-12 night from the field and six turnovers.
Pusar’s gritty performance in the second half began with a fast-break layup, and he scored again with an excellent driving layup midway through to regain the lead at 56-55 to counter an explosive Big Red run. But his biggest play didn’t show up in the boxscore.
With the team up 69-67 and under three minutes left, a missed Harvard three bounced off the rim towards a group of players. But the captain was the first to touch it, and he batted it back to his roommate Housman. The point guard then took it to the hoop for the team’s final points of the night, which proved to be enough.
“That was a great hustle play on Andy’s part,” Housman said.
“He’s playing the four at like 5’11, so that’s great of him,” Housman joked of the 6’2 Pusar.
Harris fouled out with six minutes left but not before leaving his mark on the contest as he put in a game effort for the undermanned Harvard frontcourt and prevented his team from being overrun down low. He didn’t attempt any free throws on offense but attacked the rim on occasion to draw fouls on Cornell defenders and get his team into the bonus.
“Evan was fantastic,” Pusar said. “He is so athletic and disrupts the other team’s offense so much, and he was really good at posting very hard. His offensive-defensive combination is a great advantage to our team. We couldn’t have won without him.”
For three players, who had been a part of so many last second losses in their four years with the program—with a crushing last-second loss to the same Cornell team last year—there were few better ways to end their time at Lavietes than with an all-out gutsy effort against the team everyone thought would breeze through the Ivy League.
“It feels awesome,” Pusar said. “We’re playing the best team in the league [in] our last night here. I’ve been so appreciative and happy to play with some great guys and great coaches. To come out on top, it is a great team win. We’re really proud of ourselves, we worked hard, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”
Housman, playing in his team-record 111th game, paced the team with a shared team-best 20 points and played excellent defense on reigning league Player of the Year Louis Dale. Pusar, the team’s captain, went 31 minutes, including 19 in the second half during which he scored all five of his points and helped spearhead Harvard’s tenacious defensive effort, as the high-flying visitors made just 13-of-30 shots after the break. Big man Harris had six points and five rebounds while battling the taller and deeper Big Red frontcourt.
“We talked about having to fight and compete because we knew that was how Cornell would play,” Crimson coach Tommy Amaker said. “I thought we brought that, and I thought our seniors led us in every way. I was very pleased for those guys.”
For Housman, this was the fourth straight game he led or co-led the team in scoring. His offensive game was all over the court, scoring inside, outside, and from the foul line, where he was 7-of-9. After eight points before halftime, he was nearly perfect after the break, making 4-of-5 field-goal shots. He started scoring a minute-and-a-half in, driving by for a layup to give Harvard its first lead of the half, 36-35. Seven minutes later, he faked and drove to the lane and buried a shot to put his team up 54-50. His third basket of the half came with eight minutes to play. Dribbled around for an open look, he nailed a shot as the shot clock ran down to make it 61-58 in the Crimson’s favor.
“I can’t say enough about the way Housman has played for us these past few weeks,” Amaker said. “He’s been the catalyst for our team.”
Housman scattered free throws around those baskets, including a clutch pair with his team down 57-56, when he shook off a missed front end of a one-and-one situation on the previous possession to nail both ends and go back in front. He added four assists, including two on consecutive possessions in the first half when he found teammates for threes and erased a 26-21 deficit. On the defensive end, he frequently marked the explosive Dale and helped limit the star point guard to an ugly 3-of-12 night from the field and six turnovers.
Pusar’s gritty performance in the second half began with a fast-break layup, and he scored again with an excellent driving layup midway through to regain the lead at 56-55 to counter an explosive Big Red run. But his biggest play didn’t show up in the boxscore.
With the team up 69-67 and under three minutes left, a missed Harvard three bounced off the rim towards a group of players. But the captain was the first to touch it, and he batted it back to his roommate Housman. The point guard then took it to the hoop for the team’s final points of the night, which proved to be enough.
“That was a great hustle play on Andy’s part,” Housman said.
“He’s playing the four at like 5’11, so that’s great of him,” Housman joked of the 6’2 Pusar.
Harris fouled out with six minutes left but not before leaving his mark on the contest as he put in a game effort for the undermanned Harvard frontcourt and prevented his team from being overrun down low. He didn’t attempt any free throws on offense but attacked the rim on occasion to draw fouls on Cornell defenders and get his team into the bonus.
“Evan was fantastic,” Pusar said. “He is so athletic and disrupts the other team’s offense so much, and he was really good at posting very hard. His offensive-defensive combination is a great advantage to our team. We couldn’t have won without him.”
For three players, who had been a part of so many last second losses in their four years with the program—with a crushing last-second loss to the same Cornell team last year—there were few better ways to end their time at Lavietes than with an all-out gutsy effort against the team everyone thought would breeze through the Ivy League.
“It feels awesome,” Pusar said. “We’re playing the best team in the league [in] our last night here. I’ve been so appreciative and happy to play with some great guys and great coaches. To come out on top, it is a great team win. We’re really proud of ourselves, we worked hard, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”
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