Brown Falls Short Against Harvard in Overtime

Brown news release…

Providence, R.I. – Harvard senior guard Wesley Saunders tied the game at the end of regulation and scored five of his game high 33 points in overtime to lead the Crimson to a 76-74 overtime win over Brown at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

Harvard extends its record to 14-5 overall, 4-1 in the Ivy League, while Brown falls to 9-13 overall, 0-5 in league play.

With the score tied, 61-61, Brown sophomore Tavon Blackmon’s floater in the lane with 40 seconds left in regulation gave the Bears a 63-61 lead.  Travis hit the second of two free throws with 12 seconds left to pull the Crimson to within one point, 63-62.

Blackmon hit one free with 8.8 seconds left to give Brown a 64-62 lead, but Saunders scored on a put back of his own missed shot just before the final buzzer to send the game into overtime, 64-64.

In overtime, Saunders took over once again, scoring five of the Crimson’s first seven points to build a 71-66 lead that Harvard never surrendered.

Blackmon scored a career high 25 points and also distributed a career best nine assists for the Bears, while limiting Crimson point guard Siyani Chambers to just six points.

Bears’ junior forward Cedric Kuakumensah scored 10 of his 15 points in the first half, while pulling down six rebounds and blocking four shots.  Kuakumensah moved into third place in Ivy League career blocked shots with 214, surpassing the 213 blocked shots by Yale’s Greg Mangano from 2009-2012.

Sophomore guard Steven Spieth had 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the free throw line, and Brown senior forward Rafael Maia scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds before fouling out with 1:41 remaining.

Saunders’s 33 points came on 10-of-24 shooting from the field, and he completed the double-double with 10 rebounds. Agunwa Okolie and Jonah Travis chipped in with 11 points each for the Crimson.

Harvard out-rebounded the Bears by a 42-31 margin, including 20 offensive rebounds.

In a tightly contested opening half, Harvard led by as many as 13 points, 32-19, with 4:10 remaining.  The Bears closed out the half with an 11-4 run, with Kuakumensah scoring seven of the 11 points, to trail 36-30 at intermission.

Brown continued its run on the Crimson and took its first lead, 37-36, on a Kuakumensah trey, and built a three-point advantage, 39-36, on a lay-up by Steven Spieth with 15:08 left in the game.

The Bears held a 49-46 lead with 9:41 left after freshman Jason Massey connected on a floater in the lane.

Harvard clawed back with a 9-2 run to pull ahead, 55-51, at the 5:38 mark on a Travis free throw.

Undaunted, Brown answered once again and tied the game with 2:33 left, 57-57, on a Blackmon layup, and took the lead, 59-57, on two Spieth free throws with 2:20 left.

Saunders scored on a layup and then hit two free throws to give the Crimson a 61-59 advantage, but Spieth answered once again with two free throws to knot the score at 61-61.

The Bears are back in action again tomorrow evening (Saturday), hosting Dartmouth at the Pizzitola Sports Center.  It’s Alumni Day and tip-off is 6 pm.