“He left it all out there on the court,” Saunders said. “[He] was battling, fighting.”
When Saunders sent an entry pass to Moundou-Missi with just over 11 minutes to play, the co-captain got his defender in the air, bullied his way into the paint, drew contact, and finished the layup. Three-point play, four-point game.
Then it was a hook shot over the extended right arm of Yale standout Justin Sears. Then it was a fast break alley-oop dunk from Chambers, who rewarded the big man for sprinting in transition, throwing the ball towards the hoop as Moundou-Missi soared in from the right wing.
The Lavietes crowd roared as the Yale bench signaled for a timeout—and when Moundou-Missi jogged to his team’s huddle once more, a semblance of his typical poise was back.
The co-captain would score six of his team’s final 13 points, finishing the game with a team-high 21 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the floor—his best offensive performance this season.
“He laid it all on the line,” Amaker said. “[H]e put his heart and soul out there, not wanting to feel like he had any regrets, and that was really wonderful to see…. [His] effort, energy, determination—how he played tonight was outstanding. We just didn’t have enough help.”
DUREN DURESS
Following the Crimson’s 52-50 win over Yale in New Haven last month, senior guard Javier Duren sat slumped in his seat, speaking to the media in the low, hushed tones reserved for those moments in sports when a game is lost, a big shot missed, a dream dashed.
“[I’d] take a win, especially over Harvard, over anything I could accomplish personally,” he said.
One month later, the personal accomplishments and program wins that he spoke of went hand-in-hand, as Duren led his team from tip-off to final buzzer on Friday evening, filling up the stat sheet in his last go-around against his hated Harvard squad.
His consecutive jumpers in the game’s opening minutes gave Yale its early advantage and his lights-out shooting in the contest’s waning moments sealed the Eli victory. Duren tallied 11 of his team’s 15 points in the last 1:28 of play, shooting a perfect 8-of-8 from the stripe in that span en route to his game-high 22 points.
Duren’s performance was the distorted mirror image of Harvard’s, as he responded, over and over again, to the Crimson’s runs by hitting big shots. When Harvard cut it to two, 43-41, with 3:40 remaining, Duren answered by attacking the elbow and crossing over twice, before stepping back and burying the jumper. Soon after, when Moundou-Missi brought Harvard within four with less than two minutes to play, Duren drilled a three from the left wing, knocking it down over the smaller Chambers.
“Duren was outstanding tonight,” Amaker said. “I [think] his poise, toughness, and confidence can be very contagious for their club, and I thought he was the best player on the floor…. We knew coming in how good and how tough he is.”
On a night when both teams were vying for a share of the Ancient Eight title, Duren pulled the crown the Elis’ way—finally getting that win he wished for one month ago.
—Staff writer Juliet Spies-Gans can be reached at juliet.spies-gans@thecrimson.com.