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Harvard Holds Off Vermont in Men's Basketball 55-48

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Created on Friday, 02 December 2011 12:40
Written by George Commo

The 27th Ranked Crimson used a key 8-0 run late in the second half to hold off the Catamounts

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

BURLINGTON – Keith Wright scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Harvard to a 55-48 victory over the Vermont men's basketball team on Thursday night at Patrick Gym. The Crimson used a key 8-0 run late in the second half to hold off the Catamounts, who fall to 4-3 on the year with the loss.

Vermont trailed by as many as 13 in the second half, but cut it to a two-point game after an 11-0 spurt. Harvard answered by scoring 10 of the next 12 and never let the Catamounts get closer than four points the rest of the way. Freshman Four McGlynn paced Vermont with 15 points off the bench.

“That was a tough game tonight, Harvard is a very good team and I give them all the credit in the world,” said Vermont head coach John Becker. “They are a very good defensive team and it was hard for us to get any offense going. You spot a team like that a 10-point lead in the first half and that is something that we continue to do and it is going to be hard for us to overcome deficits like that against good teams. We need to figure out a way to get off to better starts.”

Both teams started out hot from the floor in the first half as the Crimson made six of its first eight, while the Cats made five of their first nine. With Vermont leading 14-13 after a Luke Apfeld layup with 12:27 to go, Harvard answered with a 14-4 spurt over the next 7:37 to take a 27-18 lead. The Crimson would lead for the remainder of the half as it benefited from hitting four of its first six 3-point attempts.

Harvard (7-0) would take a 36-26 lead into halftime after shooting 60.9 percent in the opening 20 minutes of play from the floor. McGlynn led Vermont at the break with seven points off the bench, as both teams went 10 players deep in a physical first half.

In the second half Vermont didn't record a field goal until McGlynn hit a 3-pointer 5:19 in. The Cats trailed 39-26 early in the second half, but responded by scoring 11 straight to cut it to 39-37 Harvard with 12:02 left. Junior Brendan Bald started the run with a free throw and then McGlynn tallied the next eight on a pair of 3-pointers with a layup sandwiched in between. Junior Ben Crenca added a tip-in that cut it to two, but that would be as close as Vermont would get.

After trading a pair of baskets, the Crimson responded with the next eight in row to rebuild its lead back to 10 at 49-39 with 6:19 remaining. The Cats trailed 52-43 with 2:43 on the clock before three straight free throws and an Apfeld layup cut it to 52-48 with 22 seconds to go, but Harvard made three of four free throws down the stretch to ice it.

Harvard, one of the top defensive teams in the nation, held the Catamounts to shoot only 35.3 percent from the floor for the game. McGlynn went 3-for-6 from downtown and Apfeld was 4-for-5 for the floor for nine points and six boards in the game. Vermont's bench outscored its starting five 30-18 on the night.

Laurent Rivard added 12 points off the bench for the Crimson, while Brandyn Curry handed out a game-high seven assists. Harvard finished the game shooting 50 percent from the floor.

The Catamounts return to action on Saturday when they travel to face Yale starting at 2 p.m. The game can be heard live on ESPN 101.3 FM and The Zone 960 AM or fans can follow along with the Cover it Live blog.


NOTES: Harvard is receiving the 27th-most votes in the nation in both the AP and Coaches polls and has the 10th best scoring defense in the country, giving up only 52.8 points per game prior to Thursday … The 48 points were the fewest for the Catamounts since they scored 47 in the America East Semifinal loss to Stony Brook last season … The 48 points were also the lowest total Vermont has scored at Patrick Gym since falling to Drexel 59-46 on November 18, 2006 … The Crimson are ranked third in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Poll … Thursday marked the first meeting between the two teams since 2007 … Sophomore Josh Elbaum played a career-high 27 minutes … At least 10 different Cats have played in the first half of every game this season … McGlynn was named the America East Player of the Game …