Huskies Win Wild One In Cambridge

The Huskies came into Harvard fresh off of a close road win over James Madison. They did not know they would be in for another nail biter.
Harvard jumped out to an early 12-9 lead with 14:30 left in the first half. A Matt Janning jumper at 8:06 gave the Huskies a 19-17 lead, and it gave Matt Janning his 1,000th point. Janning reached the 1,000 point plateau at the fourth fastest pace. At the half, the Huskies led 32-27.

In the second half, the teams would exchange scoring runs down to the last second of regulation. The Huskies led 60-53 with 49 seconds left to play when Harvard took a timeout. What they drew up was a deep three-pointer by Drew Housman to make it 60-56. After Chaisson Allen knocked down two free-throws, Jeremy Lin hit a three of his own to make it 62-59. The Huskies then turned it over and Housman kept his hot streak alive, nailing another three to tie things up at 62. With 2.8 seconds left, the Huskies inbounded the ball from the baseline to Nkem Ojougboh, who finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and his shot was partially blocked to end regulation.

Ojougboh would again get the call, this time in the overtime period. He sank a hook shot that tied the game at 66 with 2.8 seconds left, and after a Harvard miss, the teams went into double-overtime.

The double-overtime period belonged to Manny Adako. Adako hit the first two shots in the period, pushing the Huskies to a 70-66 lead with 1:59 left to play. But the Crimson would not go away, and Peter Boehm stroked a three to bring the score to 70-69. Janning then hit a tough shot in the lane to put the Huskies up 72-69. Lin then answered for the Crimson with a 2 of his own, making it 72-71 with 48.9 to play.

Chaisson Allen then took one of the most important shots of his young career, hitting a fade away jump shot with 19 seconds to go in the game. Boehm then turned it over, and Janning, who finished with 17 points, hit 2 free throws to ice it and the Huskies came out on top 76-71 in a wild game.

Coach Coen was happy after the game, most of all because it was finally over and the Huskies had won. Although they did squander a lead late, he told the players that he was happy with the way they again found away to win in a tough position on the road.