Box Score THE BASICS:
- Score: Harvard 78, MIT 63
- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Lavietes Pavilion)
- The Lead: In a season-opening exhibition game on Thursday evening, the MIT men's basketball team dropped a 78-63 final to Division I Harvard University at Lavietes Pavilion. The Engineers closed to within single digits late in the game before the Crimson pulled away.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Engineers took an early 5-3 lead on a runner by sophomore AJ Jurko (Weston, Fla.) before Harvard answered with a 9-0 run for the 12-5 edge. Sophomore Bradley Jomard (Paris, France) knocked down a three from the top of the key to end the run with 15:42 left in the first half.
- MIT briefly cut the lead down to just two at 12-10 before Harvard answered with a 12-3 run to push the lead into double digits at 24-13. The Crimson used a steal by Bryce Aiken and a layup from Chris Egi to push the advantage to 11.
- The visitors put together an 8-2 run over the next four minutes, capped by a corner three from sophomore Cameron Korb (Los Gatos, Calif.) to pull within 26-21 and force a Crimson timeout. Harvard pushed the lead back to 10 with 2:14 on the clock before two straight Jomard baskets sent the game into the break at 35-29 in favor of the hosts.
- With Harvard holding a 53-41 lead at the midway point of the second half, five straight points by sophomore Dakota Pierce (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) pulled MIT back to within seven. The Crimson quickly answered with a 7-0 run though, extending the advantage back to double digits at 60-46 after a dunk by Seth Towns. Harvard maintained at least a nine-point margin over the remaining eight minutes, en route to the exhibition victory.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Jomard paced three Engineers in double figures with a 14-point effort, while Pierce added 10 and junior Spencer Rust (Alamo, Calif.) finished with a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double. Rust also added three blocks and a pair of steals in 30 minutes of play. For Harvard, Aiken was the leading scorer with a 17-point effort as five Crimson ended the game in double figures.
- Defensively, MIT held the Crimson to just 40 percent shooting from the field while shooting 45.8 percent overall as a team. It was Harvard that held the edge at the free throw line though, outscoring MIT 23-15 from the stripe. The Crimson also outscored the Engineers from deep by a 21-12 margin.
- MIT held a 40-32 advantage in rebounding and finished the game with 28 points in the paint.
UP NEXT:
- MIT opens up the 2016-2017 regular season on Tuesday, November 15th as the Engineers travel to Bridgewater State University for a 7 p.m. start.
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