Harvard shuts down Yale, 65-49, snaps Elis’ eight-game win streak

Ever have one of those really bad days at the office?
The copier is broken, the coffee is rancid, your client cancels an appointment and things get worse from there.
Well, Yale had that type of night at Lavietes Pavilion last night.
And Harvard didn’t.

As a matter of fact, the Crimson played their best game of the season. Everything was clicking. Tommy Amaker’s trademark defense was suffocating, especially on Yale’s Miye Oni, a player who none less than Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge was sitting front and center to observe. Harvard’s threes were dropping in like layups.

The announced crowd was a sellout, but there were plenty of empty seats on a bitterly cold evening. But the students did come out in droves and they were loud – almost as loud as the Cameron Crazies. They call themselves Crimson Crazies. At least that is what their shirts say.
On the injury comeback trail, Bryce Aiken played 16 solid minutes for Harvard in the first half and didn’t see action in the second half, largely because of the large Harvard lead. Seth Towns was again sidelined with injury and still has not seen action this season.
Harvard throttled Yale, 65-49, marking the second straight season that the Crimson held Yale to 49 points at Lavietes Pavilion after a nearly identical 64-49 victory over the Elis there last February.
it was never close, and Yale never led. The Crimson (9-7, 2-1 Ivy) were ahead 35-30 at the half. Consider that Yale (12-4, 2-1) entered the game riding an eight-game winning streak and averaging more than 80 points per game. Yale was shooting 49 percent from the field on Friday morning and ended the evening at a paltry 30.5 percent, including a paltry 4-for-23 (17.4 percent) from three.
Oni was guarded tightly by Justin Bassey and managed just 11 points. He was 0-for-6 from three.
Robert Baker was Harvard’s X-factor, scoring 13 points in just 23 minutes and hitting four nearly uncontested threes.
Harvard was susceptible to the press at Mercer earlier in the season, and Yale coach James Jones tried it in the second half. But Harvard had little trouble with it.
Jones always prides himself at teaching the art of rebounding. And it works 99 percent of the time. But it didn’t against Harvard, which outrebounded the Bulldogs, 41-29, including four offensive boards for Danilo Djuricic in just 19 minutes off the bench.