“A lot of it was rust,” Norman said. “But when the crowd gets involved like that, it’s tough—they gain a lot of momentum.”
After bellicose griping about foul calls, spectators chanted “we want wings” as the last seconds ticked off the clock—a local grill gives the tasty chicken treats away if the Cougars win and score 88 points or more. But a trio of missed three-pointers from Charleston ensured that the rowdy fans would go home hungry while Harvard went back to its hotel with a humbling loss.
“For the crowd to be screaming like that, it’s kind of embarrassing,” Norman said.
With sophomore Brian Cusworth still injured, the Crimson couldn’t get its offense off the ground. Harvard’s shooting from the field improved once the game was beyond its reach, but its shooting woes started early as it sunk 8-of-27 (29.6 field goal percentage) in the first half.
At halftime, Harvard found itself down 47-30, the Crimson’s second-worst halftime deficit this season.
“On offense, most of our guys really had trouble finding their natural game tonight at all positions,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said.
Stehle led Harvard with 12 points.
HARVARD 78, LONG ISLAND 60
NEW YORK—In diving for a loose ball late in the second half, Rogus had his shorts yanked from his hips. But against Long Island University in Brooklyn on Dec. 22, a well-prepared Crimson team was far from being caught with its collective pants down.
Harvard jumped out to an early lead it never surrendered, besting the Blackbirds 78-60 in a rare road win.
Long Island (4-4) was consistently flummoxed by a tenacious Harvard defense that showed an uncustomary front which forced long shots and turnovers.
“I think the big thing that helped us was the zone defense,” Sullivan said. “We haven’t played that much zone in any game this season, but it just looked to be an effective way of approaching this game. I think the zone really jump-started us in a lot of ways.”
The Crimson held the Blackbirds—a perimeter-oriented squad that usually starts three guards—to a meager 41.8 percent shooting from the floor and just 3-of-17 from behind the arc. On top of that, Long Island committed 22 turnovers, including a season-high 16 Harvard steals.
The Blackbirds’ leading scorer James Williams led all players with 16 points, but struggled at times, shooting 1-of-7 from long range.
While the new defensive strategy and another solid night on the backboards for the Ivy League’s leading rebounding team gave the Crimson much of the possession, it fell to the offense to convert.
“Any time you’re on the road, you’re always worried, ‘Are you going to score points?’” Sullivan said. “Offensively we got into a good rhythm.”
That pattern allowed the Crimson to build an early advantage, extending the margin to 24-12 after an 8-0 first-half run, and it went into the locker room with a comfortable 37-27 lead.
—Staff writers Samuel C. Scott and Jonathan J. Lehman contributed to the reporting of this article. —Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.