Harvard Looking For Another Ivy League Championship
By Gregory Hunt
Under head coach Tommy Amaker, the men's basketball team at Harvard is going through a period of unprecedented success. Thanks to the Crimson's 80-70 win at Columbia Saturday night, Harvard remains tied for first-place in the Ivy league with Yale. With two games left in the regular season, the teams share identical 10-2 records, far ahead of third-place Princeton at 6-5. In a game that may determine the Ivy League championship, Harvard will host Yale Friday night at Lavietes Pavilion. The game is already sold out.
Overall, Harvard holds a 20-6 record, giving the Crimson six consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins; This ties Harvard with Penn (1969-75) for the most consecutive 20-win seasons in Ivy League history. Harvard is also seeking its fifth consecutive Ivy League championship and its fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Before 2011, the Crimson had never won a men's basketball Ivy League championship since the league was formed prior to the 1956-57 season.
Yale has won five of its last six games since suffering a loss at home to Harvard 52-50 on February 7. In that game, the Bulldogs were held to 31.5 percent shooting from the field, which allowed the Crimson to escape with a victory despite shooting only 40 percent. Senior guard Wesley Saunders shot only 30.8 percent (4-for-13) and missed all three of his three-point attempts, but thanks to an 8-for-10 performance from the free throw line, he still led all scorers in the game with 16 points. Saunders currently leads the Crimson in scoring with 16.2 points per game. He's the only Crimson player averaging in double-figures scoring.
For his junior season, Saunders was named Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year, and he's the favorite to win that award again as a senior. If he makes it to the NBA, he'll become the fifth player from Harvard to do so, following Wyndol Gray (Class of 1946), Saul Mariaschin (1947), Edward Smith (1951) and Jeremy Lin (2010). Lin is currently playing for the Los Angeles Lakers after stints with the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets.
Harvard's win over Columbia had a surprise hero, as sophomore guard Corbin Miller came off the bench to score all 14 of his points during a five-minute period, sparking the Crimson on a 20-9 run. His offensive outburst included a trio of three-point shots. The run gave Harvard a 15-point lead and Columbia would come no closer than nine points the rest of the game.
"(Miller)'s a game-changer for us," said Amaker following the game. "We’ve seen that before, how streaky he can become, and obviously it was very much needed. He’s a valuable individual for our team, and certainly his ability to make open threes was big tonight.”
Following Friday's against Yale, Harvard will close out the season Saturday night when it hosts Brown. When Harvard traveled to Brown February 6, the Crimson escaped with a 76-74 victory in overtime. Saunders scored 33 points in that game, including a buzzer-beater at the end of regulation to force overtime.
Gregory Hunt is a Boston native and a life-long fan of the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics. He's also particularly fond of lacrosse, IndyCar racing and women's college basketball. He currently works for Examiner.com where he serves as the Senior Manager of Content and Media Access. He also writes for Examiner.com as the New England Patriots Examiner. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
