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Halfway into the second half of Sunday’s matchup towards Tufts, senior ahead Chris Ledlum drove inside to the rim and launched a cross to senior captain Luka Sakota. From the nook of the three-point arc, Sakota gathered the ball, set his shot, and knocked down his sixth three-pointer of the sport in entrance of a jubilant Harvard bench.
The shot was certainly one of many hits from distance towards the Jumbos (6-2) because the Crimson (7-3) recorded a season excessive 14 three-pointers and 21-assists en path to a 76-59 win.
The victory over Tufts lets Harvard enter a 10-day finals interval break on a excessive after dropping an in depth recreation by only one possession to UMass, 68-71.
“It was a extremely powerful recreation general, [Tufts is] a extremely good workforce,” Sakota mentioned. “We knew moving into that they had been going to battle and provides us the whole lot they’d. I really feel like we shared the ball nicely. For those who have a look at the field rating the whole lot was fairly balanced, plenty of guys in double digits, so general an excellent win for us.”
Ledlum and first-year ahead Chisom Okpara joined Sakota in double-digit level tallies for the sport. Ledlum matched Sakota’s 18 factors, whereas Okpara added one other 16 from the bench.
The well-balanced scoresheet was a spotlight for head coach Tommy Amaker, who’s glad to see gamers like Sakota, Okpara, and sophomore guard Tyler Simon stepping up and hitting three-pointers.
“Generally these are the moments that may change groups,” Amaker mentioned. “When anyone could make a couple of photographs, they begin to discover their rhythm once more, get extra confidence, and in order that helps us as we get on the highway.”
Sakota knocked down his first three-pointer of the night time a mere 20 seconds into the primary interval, setting the tempo for Harvard to roar into an early lead. A mixture of direct two-point performs and correct three-point capturing from Sakota, Ledlum, and Okpara in addition to junior captain Sam Silverstein and sophomore guard Evan Nelson helped put the Crimson up 27-10 with lower than 5 minutes remaining within the first half.
Harvard has struggled capturing from three-point vary at instances this season, as a substitute relying upon dominant capturing performances contained in the paint to place factors on the board.
Amaker harassed the importance of gamers trusting themselves to tackle these photographs.
“So long as we’re taking the best ones we’ll dwell with regardless of the result’s,” Amaker mentioned. “I believe they’ve finished a extremely good job of trusting that, and we’ve tried to persuade them that finally the best ones are going to go our approach, and at the moment they did. I do suppose beginning out of the blocks, getting one to go early, definitely helped our confidence.”
Regardless of the early deficit, Tufts was not discouraged and capitalized on a sequence of turnovers to get again into the sport. Over a 3 minute span close to the tip of the primary interval, the Jumbos shot 6-for-6 from three level vary, bringing the part of away help in Lavietes Pavilion to its toes in pleasure. The 20-6 run introduced the rating to 33-30 and Tufts inside one three-pointer of drawing stage.
Amaker mirrored after the sport in regards to the distinctive challenges that Tufts poses as an opponent.
“By way of model they’re a workforce that spreads the ground,” Amaker mentioned. “They put plenty of shooters, if not all shooters, on the ground and actually benefit from any miscues that you just make in your defensive focus.”
Harvard began the second half with renewed focus and prevented the Jumbos from gaining any extra offensive momentum. A number of layups and two three-pointers from Nelson and Sakota put the Crimson again on monitor for a dominant second half efficiency. Tufts was capable of reply with a couple of extra three-pointers of its personal however finally fell behind as Harvard remained strong defensively and potent on the assault.
By the 5 minute mark the Crimson had been up by 25, having all however secured the win. The length of the sport allowed first-year guard Chandler Piggé and first-year middle Matt Filipowski to get in on the motion, as each added a basket to shut out the win 76-59.
After the sport, Sakota spoke in regards to the mentality that he and his teammates have introduced into every recreation this season.
“Each recreation for us is a tradition recreation,” Sakota mentioned. “You need to be ready to play your greatest out of respect for the those that got here earlier than you. It doesn’t matter who you play; we may play Kansas, we may play Tufts, we may play UMass, each recreation issues for us.”
The Crimson now has a 10-day break earlier than its subsequent dwelling recreation towards Howard (4-7) on Dec. 18th. The workforce then hits the highway for six consecutive away video games, together with matchups with UC Irvine (6-3) and the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks (8-1).
—Employees author Alex Bell could be reached at alexbell@school.harvard.edu.
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