Harvard men’s basketball stormed back from a late second-half 16-point deficit to make it a one- possession game in the final 80 seconds, but Brown hung on for a 74-72 Martin Luther King Jr. Day victory at Lavietes Pavilion.
Brown’s first Ancient Eight win of the year puts Bruno (5-12, 1-1 Ivy) in a tie with Penn for fourth place, while winless Harvard (9-6, 0-2) finds itself at the bottom of the standings with Columbia and Dartmouth.
The game started off well for Harvard, rushing out to a 7-0 lead and forcing Brown coach Mike Martin to call a timeout before the first media break.
Whatever the coach said worked, as Bruno quickly regrouped and used a 9-2 run to take an 16-11 lead.
Brown continued with hot hands, using two late 10-1 runs to stretch its advantage to 17 points, 41-24, at the midway point.
Over the opening 20 minutes, Brown dominated the glass (+10, +27%) to take nine more shots and eight more second-chance points than Harvard. The visitors also capitalized on turnovers, netting 12 points off of Crimson miscues compared to only one point for the hosts.
The Bears kept Harvard at bay through the opening part of the second half and maintained their comfortable lead.
When junior forward Nana Owusu-Anane had a put-back slam dunk off a missed three-pointer by junior guard Kino Lilly Jr. to make it 62-46 with 8:12 on the clock, Brown looked to be on its way to a relatively easy win.
Harvard, however, used that as a wake-up call.
Tommy Amaker’s squad pressured Brown into six turnovers and hit nine of its next 11 baskets, including its only two triples of the final frame, to make it a 70-67 game with 1:20 to go in regulation.
Brown worked the clock on the next possession at Owusu-Anane used his three-inch height advantage to hit a baby hook shot over sophomore guard Chandler Pigge to put Bruno up five with 40 seconds remaining.
Harvard first-year guard Malik Mack quickly drove the length of the floor and was fouled by junior guard/forward Aaron Cooley. The first-year guard sank both free throws to once again make it a three-point contest.
The Crimson were unsuccessful in getting Brown to turn the ball over and had to foul Owusu-Anane. The Canadian center, who entered the game hitting 66% of his free throws, went 2-for-2 to make it a two-possession game with only 17 seconds on the clock.
Mack raced up the court to put up a quick three-pointer, but it was blocked by Cooley. Brown sophomore forward Kalu Anya grabbed the rebound and was fouled.
After Anya missed the front end of the one-and-one, Harvard came down with the board and junior guard Louis Lesmond was hit by Anya as he attempted a three-ball from the left elbow with 2.5 seconds left.
The Paris native hit the first two shots to make it 74-71. He followed it with a successful third free throw but appeared to shrug his shoulders as if he meant to intentionally miss it.
Lilly was immediately fouled with 2.1 seconds left. But the Ivy League’s leading scorer failed to convert the first part of the one-and-one and Harvard had one last chance for the win.
Pigge came down with the rebound and hurled a prayer from his own three-point line, but the shot sailed wide left, and the game was over.
Owusu-Anane led the way for Brown with 18 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and two assists. Lilly and senior guard Felix Kloman also scored in double digits with 19 and 11 points, respectively.
Harvard was led by its underclassmen, with sophomore forward Chisom Okpara scoring a game-high 20 points, while Mack added 18, including 13 in the second half. First-year forward Thomas Batties III, who played 30 minutes as Justice Ajogbor began his return from a recent hand injury, had 15 points and four rebounds.
In a reversal of the first-half numbers, Harvard was +5 /+17% on the boards and +14 on field goal attempts, while forcing nine more turnovers and 13 more points off of turnovers.
While Harvard’s furious second half comeback evened up a lot of the numbers on the day, the biggest difference was at the three-point line, where Brown went 8-for-22 and Crimson could only manage a 3-for-19 (16%) showing.
The outside shooting is now a concern for Harvard, which made 36.5% (105-for-288) of its triples in nonconference play and only 20% (8-for-40) in its two losses to Brown and Princeton.
Hopefully for the Crimson, Lesmond, who has only made two of 12 three-point attempts in Ivy play, will return to the player who shot 39% from downtown in nonconference play. Mack, who shot 1-for-7 from three in the last two games, will continue to recover from his December illness to try to match his 47% success rate from his first 10 games.
While the road victory is huge for a Brown team that is looking for its first ever appearance in Ivy Madness, the Bears will need to be better at withstanding pressure defense and committing turnovers.
Both teams return to action on Saturday, with Brown welcoming first-place Cornell (12-3, 2-0) and Harvard traveling to Penn (9-8, 1-1) for a crucial early season second-tier showdown.