CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Graduate student Eric Wentz and first year Steele Labagh each scored a team-high 10 points as the MIT men's basketball team dropped a 73-45 exhibition contest to Division I Harvard University on Monday night at Lavietes Pavilion.
Wentz and senior Wyatt Mowery each added six rebounds to lead MIT, while Labagh had four rebounds, a steal, and an assist in the loss.
- Score: Harvard 73, MIT 45 (Exhibition)
- Records: Harvard (1-0 Overall); MIT (0-0 Overall)
- Parker Spann's driving layup at 19:02 gave MIT a brief 2-1 lead to start the contest, but the Crimson countered with 10 of the next 12 points in the contest to take an 11-4 lead at 14:59.
- Harvard extended its advantage to 24-6 by the midway point of the first half behind nine points from Luca Ace-Nasteski. A driving layup from Robert Hinton extended the Harvard lead to 26-6 before Steele Labagh canned a three for MIT at 8:34 to make the score 26-9.
- Harvard built a 20-point lead at 4:22 of the first, taking a 32-12 advantage after Thomas Batties II made a pair of free throws.
- Labagh finished the first half with ten points and a team-high four rebounds for MIT, shooting 4-for-7 from the floor and 2-for-4 from three. Labagh also found Eric Wentz for a corner three-pointer with a nice pass along the baseline that cut the deficit to 39-22 on MIT's final possession of the first half.
- Harvard extended the lead back to 20, at 42-22, on its second possession of the second half thanks to a Tey Barbour triple. The Crimson would go on to lead by as many as 29 points in the second half.
- MIT got five second half points from Wentz to help the graduate student finish in double-figures. Rookie Aditya Nalla added the final three MIT points, making all three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt from the top of the arc.
- The Crimson outscored MIT 34-23 after the break to win the contest 73-45.
- Harvard overwhelmed MIT on the inside, outscoring the Engineers 34-14 in the paint while owning the rebounding advantage, 47-34.
- The Crimson also had the advantage in transition, scoring 18 points off of MIT turnovers and 12 on the break.
- Both teams shot 7-for-22 (31.8%) from beyond the arc.
- Monday's game was the 50th all-time meeting between MIT and Harvard. The first match up in the series took place in 1901.
- After a pair of exhibitions against Division I opponents, MIT begins the regular season with a non-conference game at Plymouth State on Tuesday, November 10 at 5:00 PM. Harvard will face another Division III opponent in its next game, when the Crimson play at the University of Chicago on Sunday, November 8, at 2:00 PM ET.
