Sports

THIS WEEKEND’S SCORES WOMEN’S TENNIS VS. CORNELL W, 4-1 ___________________________________________________________ WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY VS. CORNELL L, 1-4 ___________________________________________________________ MEN’S SQUASH VS. BROWN W, 9-0 ___________________________________________________________ WOMEN’S SQUASH VS. BROWN W, 8-1 ___________________________________________________________ MEN’S VOLLEYBALL VS. BARTON W, 3-1 ___________________________________________________________ SKIING BATES CARNIVAL 8TH ___________________________________________________________ TRACK & FIELD HYP 2ND (W), 3RD (M) ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S BASKETBALL Harvard Powers Through Late Foul, Beats Yale 78-77

By LEV COHEN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER The free throw seemed a formality, the next blow in what felt destined to become a crushing Harvard loss. Azar Swain had just done the impossible: with his Yale Bulldogs down by four points with a few ticks shy of six seconds to go and inbounding the ball from under their own basket, he raced up the court, threw his body into the defending Rio Haskett to draw a foul, and launched a prayer — a prayer that, with an assist from the backboard, was somehow answered.

All Swain — who had converted his first eight attempts from the charity stripe — had to do to complete the four-point play and send the game to overtime was make a free throw. But the Crimson’s streak of heartbreaking losses would not reach three, as Swain’s free throw clanged off the front of the rim and out, stunning what seconds before had been a raucous Yale crowd and allowing Harvard to escape Payne Whitney Gymnasium with a 78-77 victory on Friday evening.

In many ways, this game was the mirror image of last weekend’s near-comebacks against Penn and Princeton. Then, the Crimson (14-7, 3-3 Ivy) fought back valiantly from two daunting deficits and fell just short. Friday, Yale (17-5, 5-1) never led but clawed back from two separate double-digit deficits, including a 13-point chasm with five minutes to play. The Bulldogs came ever so close to tying the game, but this time it was Harvard who would earn a crucial victory.

“We are putting ourselves in these 50-50 positions,” senior guard Christian Juzang said. “If [Swain] makes that free throw, we’re going to overtime and it’s a 50-50 game. We just have to work on closing games, especially on the road, and building toward that full 40 [minutes]. I’m proud of how we fought. I think we were deserving for most of the game, but I think we’re a step closer. I think that’s a mistake we won’t make again going down the stretch so I’d rather knock it out now than in the tournament.”

Swain nearly robbed the Crimson of its big win. It was bombs away in the second half for the diminutive junior guard, who is capable of scoring a lot of points in a hurry. He scored Yale’s first eight points of the second half, punctuated by a deep step-back three to cut Harvard’s lead to eight. And he was not done, either.

Time after time, Harvard threatened to put the game away, and the Brockton, Mass., native always had an answer. Swain’s 27 second-half points came on 11 shots, and his four made threes in the period ranged from difficult to — most obviously when Haskett gave him that bump — seemingly impossible.

Before the unthinkable, nearly four-point play, it appeared that the Crimson had done just enough to lock up a win against the Ivy League’s leaders.

Twice in the last 1:10, the Bulldogs sent Juzang to the line with Harvard up by two. Juzang had missed a few free throws late in a tight win over Dartmouth a few weeks ago and then had stayed in the gym after that game working on his stroke from the charity stripe. The work paid off, as Juzang hit all four free throws, twice extending the Crimson’s lead back to four.

“In my mind, there are very few people I’d choose over [Juzang], if any, in a pressure free throw situation,” head coach Tommy Amaker said. “He was dialed in, and I had all the confidence in the world that he was going to bury them.”

But Juzang’s clutch free throws sandwiched two misses from the line from sophomore guard Noah Kirkwood, including one on the front end of a oneand-one, giving Yale just the slightest chance to get back on level terms. Kirkwood was otherwise exceptional again, following up his efficient 21-point performance against Princeton last Saturday with a team-leading 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting. In the absence of senior guard Bryce Aiken, who remains out with an ankle injury and did not travel with the team this weekend, Kirkwood has continued to look like Harvard’s best offensive option and the one the Crimson goes to for a bucket when it needs one.

Against a defense that coming in was statistically best in the Ivy League, Harvard’s offense was humming for most of the game’s first 35 minutes, especially at the end of the first half, when a scalding seven minute stretch in which it connected on 10 of its 12 attempts, including four of its five from long range, and scored 24 points, stretching the lead to 13 at halftime.

“We played a tremendous basketball game against a tremendous team, and so we’re very proud of it, very happy with it,” Amaker said. “We recognize how devastating that could have been if that didn’t turn out the way it did, but having said that we did a lot of good things prior to that last possession.”

The Crimson, which ranks near the bottom of college basketball in assist rate, notched 23 assists, seven more than its previous season high. Juzang led the way with a season-high nine helpers, continuing what has been a remarkable midseason turn of events for the senior. Relegated to a bit part for much of the first part of the season, Juzang has filled in as the starting point guard in Aiken’s stead admirably, no more so than Friday.

Juzang and Kirkwood were joined in double figures by junior forward Danilo Djuricic, who scored a season-high 17 points, and senior forward Robert Baker, who added 10.

Djuricic’s points came on just nine shots and always seemed to come at vital moments of the game. An assertive Djuricic drive and tough reverse layup forced Yale out of the zone it had briefly turned to in an attempt to jar Harvard out of its rhythm.

“My teammates got me in great positions to score the ball, and on back cuts, when I was driving in and would make a cut, they were looking for me tonight,” Djuricic said. “So I was just going to go in there and try and go in strong and either draw a foul or finish the bucket. So credit to my teammates for finding me in position to score.” As is often the case, Baker made his biggest impact on the defensive end. The Crimson outscored Yale by 13 points in the 25 minutes he played thanks largely to his three blocks and numerous contests at the rim. His versatility became apparent when, after Swain tried to exploit what he thought to be a mismatch, Baker stayed with the speedy guard and blocked his jumper, springing Kirkwood the other way for a layup and extending Harvard’s firsthalf lead to 12 points.

Despite Baker’s defensive impact, the Bulldogs managed to stay in the game thanks largely to their two junior stars. They got almost 80 percent of their scoring from Swain and junior big man Paul Atkinson, who poured in 28 points on hyper-efficient 11-16 shooting. It was Atkinson who kept Yale in the game in the first half. He was the only Bulldog to score in the game’s first six minutes and ended the half with 17 of their 32 points.

The Crimson had a difficult time dealing with Yale’s 6-foot10 forward, who has nearly doubled his per game scoring from last season.

All too often, Atkinson received the ball deep in the paint and needed only to lay the ball in or, on one occasion, throw down a monstrous dunk. He got all three of the bigs tasked with defending him — Chris Lewis, Mason Forbes, and Baker — into foul trouble, and Lewis in particular was often outmatched on both ends, committing four fouls in his 23 minutes and finishing with just four points.

Atkinson’s only blemish on the night proved costly to Yale. A decent 71 percent free throw shooter on the year, he nonetheless looked uncomfortable at the line throughout, especially in the first half.

The Florida native hit just one of his six first half free throws, and most of the misses were ugly. He steadied himself in the second half, connecting on five of his six attempts as Harvard continued to have no choice but to send him to the line, but the damage had been done.

Yale’s loss was its first at home this season. The Bulldogs entered the game as healthy favorites, having won six straight games — including their first four Ivy League games — by double-digits. But they again struggled to defeat the Crimson on their home court, losing for the eighth time in nine years.

“We just came together,” Juzang said. “I think it showed a lot about all five of us on the court and the bench still being involved. I’m really proud of the guys the way that we were able to weather those storms and bounce back with our own runs and big plays.”

The victory keeps Harvard from falling below .500 in the Ivy League for the first time since 2016. The Crimson lost a heartbreaker at Brown (11- 8, 4-2) on Sunday by a score of 72-71, bringing Harvard back to an even record in the Ancient Eight. The Crimson returns home next weekend for its first meetings with Cornell (5-14, 2-4) and Columbia (6-16, 1-5). HAVE FAITH Christian Juzang considers his options against Yale on Saturday. The senior helped the Crimson to a season-high 23 assists against the Bulldogs, contributing nine of his own. ZING GEE—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER NOAH BETTER SCORER Harvard’s Noah Kirkwood drives against Yale in Saturday’s win. The sophomore led the Crimson with 18 points in a heart-pounding rivalry match. HENRY ZHU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER’ lev.cohen@thecrimson.com

SPORTS

WEEKLY RECAP SCORES

MEN’S TENNIS VS. MEMPHIS W, 4-0 ___________________________________________________________ WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY VS. COLGATE W, 4-3 ___________________________________________________________ MEN’S VOLLEYBALL VS. MOUNT OLIVE W, 3-0 ___________________________________________________________ MEN’S SQUASH AT NO. 7 YALE W, 9-0 ___________________________________________________________ WOMEN’S TENNIS VS. PENN W, 4-1 ___________________________________________________________ WOMEN’S SQUASH AT NO. 4 YALE W, 9-0 ___________________________________________________________ WOMEN’S WATER POLO VS. ST. FRANCIS (PA.) W , 11-5 ___________________________________________________________

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Harvard Tops Previously-Undefeated Yale At Home

By EMA R. SCHUMER CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Harvard dealt Yale its first loss in Ivy League play this season at Lavietes Pavilion Friday evening, surpassing the Bulldogs by a final score of 66-57 in a game that featured four competitive quarters of action.

Making an infrequent appearance in the starting lineup of the Crimson (13-6, 4-2 Ivy), co-captain and junior forward Rachel Levy led Harvard’s charge against Yale (15-4, 5-1) on both ends of the court. In 34 minutes of play — the most Levy has ever played in one game for the Crimson — she did it all.

Levy grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds, nine of which were on the offensive end, and notched 14 points.

Additionally, she fired up her teammates by diving on the ground for loose balls, chasing down and rejecting Yale players at the hoop, and drawing a charge.

Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith described Levy’s performance as “immense.”

“I felt she was a junior captain and she was going to carry the team, and I thought she was great [on] both ends of the floor,” Delaney-Smith said.

Levy found herself in the starting lineup after her co-captain, senior guard Mackenzie Barta, sustained an injury against Princeton last weekend that prevented her from suiting up against Yale.

“Playing without Kenzie is really hard. I think we all wanted to show up this weekend and give a little bit more just for that reason and play for her,” Levy said. “I know that’s definitely weighing heavy on my mind. I just wanted to go out and remember the game could be taken away at any point, and it kind of just motivated me to go out and crash hard. Do everything hard. Just play because I love the sport.”

Levy said her teammates shared her sense of urgency.

“I think everybody came out really intense and ready to go,” she said. “Everybody’s ready to step up and that’s awesome. I think we’re going to win a lot of games with a different game plan. We’re going deeper into the bench.”

Junior guard Matilda Salen also contributed meaningful minutes off of the bench for the Crimson on Friday evening. Salen gave maximum effort in her 17 minutes of playing time against the Bulldogs, grabbing 5 rebounds, scoring a basket, and tallying a steal.

Hot off the bench in the first quarter, Salen grabbed a defensive rebound, dished the basketball to a teammate ahead of her, and sprinted down to the opposite end of the court.

Trailing the play, she cut back, caught the basketball, and layed it in off the glass.

“[Salen’s] been stepping up so much this season, and it’s so great to see,” Levy said. “She comes in, and she’s a huge defensive asset for us. And there’s no question when she’s on the court. I know she’s a hustler. I know she’s a player and she’s gonna have my back if I get beat — she’s gonna have everybody’s back. And she’s gonna crash hard. She’s a really dependable player.”

Going into the game, Harvard knew that Yale would likely defend the Crimson in a high pressure woman-to-woman defense, just as several other teams have been doing all season.

On Friday night, Harvard was ready.

The Crimson capitalized on Yale’s high pressure by attacking the paint.

Out of position, Bulldog players struggled to get between Harvard players and the hoop. The Crimson were able to capitalize, and, as a result, Harvard staked out an 18-8 lead to finish the first quarter, scoring almost all of its points exclusively from inside the paint.

Yale made inroads in the second quarter, however.

Bulldog players offered a glimpse of how they have managed to rise to the top of the Ivy League leaderboard: they engaged Harvard players by aggressively attacking the paint and then dishing to their teammates who would catch the basketball wide open in front of the rim.

Yale’s No. 2 Camilla Emsbo, who stands at 6 feet 5 inches, laid in eight of the Bulldog’s 23 points in the second quarter.

Harvard answered with only 11 points of its own, which put the Crimson down by a basket heading into the locker room at halftime.

In the third quarter, freshman guard Lola Mullaney fueled the Crimson’s surge on offense, just as she has done on numerous occasions this season. In that quarter alone, Mullaney contributed 12 points. Her effort helped to erase Harvard’s deficit on multiple occasions by finishing at the rim, maneuvering passed her opponents and cradling the basketball to successfully get to the hoop.

In addition to scoring in the TAMING THE BULLDOGS Junior forward Rachel Levy finished with a career game against the Crimson’s bitter rival, notching 14 points and grabbing 19 rebounds against Yale. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

paint, Mullaney knocked down two consecutive triples to give the Crimson a lead.

Mullaney finished the game with 19 points.

Harvard went into the fourth quarter ahead by one point.

However, the Crimson continued to push the pace and would not take its foot off of the pedal.

When the final buzzer sounded, the Crimson had surpassed Yale by nine points, tarnishing the Bulldogs’ perfect conference record. Perhaps the most important moment of the game came with five minutes to play, when senior forward Jeannie Boehm rolled toward the hoop off of a screen for Mullaney and caught the basketball in the left short corner of the floor.

She immediately went to work in the paint, backing down her defender, Emsbo, who, off rhythm, stumbled to the ground. With her left hand, Boehm floated the ball into the hoop to put Harvard up by five points, sealing the victory for the Crimson.

On Sunday, Harvard returned to the court and topped Brown (7-12, 1-5) by a score of 68-53.

The Crimson will make its next appearance on Feb. 14 at Cornell (9-9, 2-4) and then on Feb. 15 at Columbia (11-8, 2-4) for its first back-to-back Ivy League road trip of the season next weekend.

Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.

ema.schumer@thecrimson.com

MEN’S HOCKEY No. 17 Harvard Completes Season Sweep of Dartmouth

Bouncing Back The Crimson skated past the Big Green on Friday night to earn its third and fourth points against the conference foe this season. AMANDA M. DIMARTINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

By SPENCER R. MORRIS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

In Friday night’s matchup between the Harvard men’s hockey team and Dartmouth, the prettiest goal of the night turned out to be the most important one.

Five minutes into the second period, a settled offensive sequence culminated in a tic-tactoe play, nabbing the game-winner for the No. 17 Crimson (11-7- 4, 9-4-3 ECAC).

Junior rearguard Reilly Walsh controlled the puck at the point.

The offensive defenseman worked it down low to sophomore center Jack Drury, who one-touched it across the crease to freshman Nick Abruzzese. The winger wasted no time putting home his squad’s third of the night.

Courtesy of Abruzzese’s tuck, the Big Green (10-9-4, 7-7- 2) saw its winless streak progress to five games as it suffered a season sweep at the hands of its Ivy League adversary, to the tune of 6-2.

With the victory, Harvard becomes just the second team in the 2019-2020 campaign to leave Thompson Arena with two points.

“They’re an older team, they’re experienced, they’re well-coached,” sophomore blue-liner Marshall Rifai said. “Especially coming off a Beanpot loss, the guys were really chomping at the bit to get back in games and get a win. We felt pretty confident in our group, and we knew we needed these two points.”

At the 14-minute mark of the third stanza, Dartmouth halved its two-goal deficit.

Upperclassman forwards Collin Rutherford, Matt Baker, and Daniel Warpecha each combined to find the back of the net.

Warpecha happened to be the culprit, firing a high shot past Harvard net-minder Mitchell Gibson (2 GA, .917 SV%) to finish off an impressive transition play.

The claw-back goal made things interesting for the next ten minutes, but none other than Drury and Abruzzese combined to restore Harvard’s two-score cushion at 4-2, snuffing the Big Green’s comeback attempt.

The first forward line’s performance extended Drury’s point streak to ten games.

During this span — which was interrupted by Drury’s stint at the IIHF World Junior Championship — the second-year forward has managed to accumulate 20 points (11–9— 20).

He has steadily climbed the Division-I ranks and is now second nationwide in points per game (1.53).

Abruzzese, meanwhile, is putting together an excellent rookie campaign, having flanked Drury for most of the season.

The Slate Hill, N.Y., native has inked the scoresheet in all but four of his 22 appearances in 2019-2020.

He currently paces all NCAA freshmen in points per game (1.36) and assists per game (0.86).

“[Abruzzese] is an incredible player,” said Drury, deflecting all the credit. “His vision, his skating, his hands are all incredible. He understands how to play give-and-go hockey. He’s one of the best passers I’ve ever seen…. It’s been nice to at least find a little chemistry this year.” An empty-net goal from freshman forward John Farinacci and a garbage-time tally — but an even-strength notch nonetheless — from captain Nathan Krusko gave the scoreboard its lopsided appearance by the final horn.

“It was a close, hard-fought game,” Drury said. “I don’t think the score really reflects how the game actually played out. It was a one-goal game until five or six minutes left…. We know we can be better, but we’re happy with how we stayed composed and stuck to our structured gameplan.”

Harvard took a 2-1 lead into the dressing room after 20 minutes.

A critical five-minute major penalty from Dartmouth captain Brendan Demler gifted an extended powerplay to the nation’s best man-up unit (30.9% effective).

Demler’s illegal hit on sophomore blue-liner Jack Rathbone came toward the tail end of a Big Green minor penalty.

Thus, the task of outlasting a non-releasable, five-minute Crimson powerplay was made even more daunting given the fatigue of the Dartmouth penalty killers.

The Big Green held strong for the first three and a half minutes of the ensuing major.

Then, Harvard cashed in, thanks to the second man-advantage unit.

Gliding along the blue line, Rifai rung a wrist shot off the crossbar. The puck initially stayed out but lingered near the front of the net, where freshman forward Austin Wong tapped it in.

The Crimson has converted with the extra man in all but four tilts this season.

“That first [powerplay] unit gets a lot of attention because they’re so good, and we have so much talent,” said Rifai, who logged his first career multipoint performance on Friday. “But people forget how deep our team is…. I think our staff is confident with both units. It was great to take a little pressure off that first unit, to score that goal and go ahead late [in the first period].”

Wong’s lamp-lighter ends a 10-game dry spell after the rookie potted his first collegiate goal in his debut. He was sidelined due to injury for the Crimson’s first 10 outings of 2019- 2020.

The powerplay tally thrust Harvard back into the lead, as the frame had already seen the Ivy League rivals exchange blows.

Three minutes after the opening puck drop, junior Jack Badini kicked off the scoring with a demonstration of his speed. In the neutral zone, the centerman poked the puck around senior forward Will Graber and was off to the races, in alone on senior goaltender Adrian Clark (5 GA, .815 SV%). Badini tucked it under the bar with a clean finish on his backhand.

The Anaheim Ducks prospect’s fifth of the year marks the 16th time in 22 contests that the Crimson has scored first this season, a testament to the group’s ability to impose its potent offense early.

Harvard sits second in the NCAA in first-period goals per game (1.27).

The visitors’ lead was shortlived, though.

Four minutes after Badini’s strike, sophomore forward Drew O’Connor buried a feed from junior linemate Quin Foreman to equalize.

Foreman gained possession below the goal line, found some space, and shoveled a backhand pass toward the blue paint, where O’Connor sent the puck past Gibson.

“Badini had a great individual effort there,” Rifai recalled. “He showed his speed and got us on the board, and there was a lot of life on the bench. I feel like maybe we got a little complacent, and we paid for it. We lost a guy in front, and they scored. But guys on the bench responded really well. We knew right away that we were going to get the next one.”

The Crimson pauses its conference slate briefly to finish off this year’s Beanpot Tournament.

Unfortunately for this group, that means playing in the dreaded “early game,” or Monday’s consolation matchup ahead of the finale which takes place later that night.

Harvard will be battling No. 4 Boston College in a rematch of early December’s 3-2 Eagles victory — despite the lack of stakes attached, both an important game for the Pairwise rankings and a measuring-stick affair for a group with postseason aspirations.

A positive result could orient the team in the right direction as it braces for the home stretch of the campaign.