NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The stage is set for another showdown on Friday night. Two familiar foes in recent years will meet in Jadwin Gym with first place in the Ivy League on the line, and that’s pretty much what was expected all along. The only question was the teams’ records coming in, and they will remain separated by a game in the loss column after Harvard pulled out a 72-66 win at Yale on Saturday night.
Princeton took care of their end of the bargain by blasting Cornell a night after they took care of Columbia. With the late start in New Haven, this was known well before the game was over. It was just a question of whether or not Harvard would hold up its end and head to Princeton with one league loss or two.
At times, it looked like Harvard would take Saturday’s game, but for some of the second half the game appeared to be in doubt. Yale stayed right with Harvard for much of the first half, but Harvard made them pay for every turnover to the tune of a 34-28 halftime lead. When Yale wasn’t turning the ball over, they often scored, so if they could take better care of the ball they might have a chance.
That happened for some of the second half, especially once Harvard took a 43-35 lead. Yale proceeded to score the next nine points to take the lead, and it began a good stretch where they had all the momentum and led by as many as five. But they couldn’t maintain it for long, with Harvard getting shots to slow the momentum, and it was just enough to set the stage.
Every big shot seemed to come from Christian Webster, a guy who has seemingly been lost amidst several players who get more attention, but whose importance is still high for this team.
“If you know Christian, he’s one of those kids that you hope good things happen to,” said head coach Tommy Amaker.
The Crimson have had lots of success led by Siyani Chambers, a shoe-in for Rookie of the Year, and Wesley Saunders, the odds-on-favorite for Player of the Year. Kenyatta Smith grabbed plenty of attention last weekend with two big games when they needed it. Laurent Rivard has been the big shooter for this team at about 40 percent from long range on the year.
In other words, Webster has flown under the radar in his senior season. But when the Crimson needed it, he came up big, starting with a three-pointer off a turnover to cut Yale’s biggest lead down to two with 9:42 left. That came as Harvard was struggling offensively and Yale had all the momentum, although they didn’t turn that into a bigger lead. Several minutes later, with the Crimson having grabbed the lead, he hit another from deep to put them up by five. And after Yale got within two again, Webster buried another big three-pointer to make it a two-possession game for just about the rest of the evening.
Webster didn’t do it alone, certainly. Steve Moundou-Missi, who they refer to as their “sixth starter,” made several big plays en route to a game-high 17 points and six rebounds. Saunders had a big first half before Yale didn’t let him get opportunities in the second. Chambers had a big night with seven assists and just one turnover while never sitting down, and in a very hostile environment. It was also amidst some tension between him and Yale’s Javier Duren, which was visible a few times including near the end of the game when Duren fouled him intentionally by pushing him into the Yale bench after some contact earlier in the play.
“He’s an evolving point guard in the league,” said Moundou-Missi. “He’s getting better every day, I can’t tell you how much he’s improving every day.”
Added Amaker: “He’s our playmaker, he’s our quarterback. We believe in him, and you saw exactly why.”
Harvard isn’t getting too keyed up for Friday’s showdown right now. They will prepare and be ready for it, but they didn’t offer much on the game. Some of that is undoubtedly because they just got finished with a tense rivalry game, but some of it is also the maturity of this team. Big games, including against Princeton, have become second nature to most of these guys by now. It’s also what you play for if you’re an athlete.
“That’s what you want as a college basketball player, to play in that kind of game,” said Moundou-Missi.
Friday night will be a familiar setting. There will be three games left for Harvard after it, and four for Princeton (an addition game at Penn), but this may be the one for all the marbles. It’s what was expected before round one went to Harvard, and soon it will be upon us.
