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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Harvard
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Housman's Big Second Half Leads Harvard to 50-43 Win over Princeton in Men's Basketball
February 24, 2007 | Men's Basketball
It was a tale of two halves Saturday night between Harvard and Princeton at Lavietes Pavilion. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Crimson's big second half proved to be the key to a home win on Senior Night.
Drew Housman scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the decisive second half as the Crimson outscored Princeton 38-22 in the final 20 minutes on the way to a 50-43 victory.
Princeton (11-14, 2-9 Ivy) held Harvard (11-15, 4-8 Ivy) without a field goal for the final 16:49 of the first half on the way to a 21-12 halftime lead, but Housman quickly led the Crimson back into the lead. He had 11 points in the first eight minutes of the half in the midst of a 15-0 Harvard run that gave the Crimson a 27-23 lead.
The Tigers were still within three points after two Justin Conway free throws made it 36-33 Harvard with 3:55 left, but two free throws from Housman and a pull-up jumper by Jim Goffredo put the Crimson back ahead by seven with two minutes left. Harvard then made all eight of its free throws after that to put the game away.
"I thought the key to the game was the first half, when we did a great job on defense in holding them to three field goals but we didn't take advantage of our opportunities to get a bigger lead," said Joe Scott, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 Head Coach of Men's Basketball at Princeton. "We missed a lot of layups and open shots that would have made our good defense get us a much bigger lead and make it much harder on Harvard."
Princeton trailed 6-2 3:11 into the game but then held the Crimson without a field goal for the rest of the first half. The Tigers took the lead for the first time on a Luke Owings three-pointer with 13:09 left and would lead by as many as 11 points at 21-10 with 3:38 left in the half when Conway scored in the lane.
The Tigers then went back ahead by 11 at 23-12 after Zach Finley's hook in the lane 1:36 into the second half, but Harvard then began its 15-0 run led by Housman, who had scored 33 points in Harvard's double-overtime loss at Princeton two weeks ago.
Harvard shot 68% (13 for 19) in the second half after making just three of its 19 shots (16%) in the first 20 minutes. Housman made six of his seven second-half shots, while the Crimson made all 12 of its free throws in the second half.
Marcus Schroeder led Princeton with 10 points and also added three assists, while Conway had nine points and eight rebounds. The Tigers shot 32% from the field for the game and made just four of 18 three-point attempts.
Princeton held the Crimson without a three-point shot (0 for 7) and forced 16 Crimson turnovers. Harvard ended a four-game losing streak against Princeton with the victory.
The Tigers were within 42-36 with 1:38 left after Schroeder drove the lane, but Harvard then broke the Tiger pressure and scored 10 seconds later when Andrew Pusar converted in the lane.
The Tigers play Brown and Yale at home next weekend. The Bulldogs fell two games behind league-leading Penn in the loss column in the Ivy League race Saturday night when they fell to Columbia and Penn held on to win at Dartmouth.