Brown Ends Season With 73-62 Loss to Harvard
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Brown Ends Season With 73-62 Loss to Harvard
See the five takeaways from Brown's season below
Brown led 34-30 after a Rafael Maia layup with 18 minutes to play in the second half but from that point, the Crimson ripped off a 20-6 run to take a 50-40 lead with 13 minutes to play in the game.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe Bears would not get closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Brown was led by Cedric Kuakumensah who poured in 23 points and pulled down seven rebounds while Rafael Maia recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Harvard was led by Silyani Chambers who poured in 15 points off t he bench while three players (Travis, Smith, Saunders) followed up with 12 points each.
The Bears season comes to a close, see the five takeaways from Brown's season below.
Five Takeaways From Brown's 2014-15 Season
Kuakumensah
This season Cedric Kuakumensah became the Brown Bears all-time leader in blocked shots with 235 blocked shots in three years. When Kuakumensah finishes his career after next season, the number might be out of reach.
Going into his season season, Brown needs him to be more consistent as this year he went through stretches in which he was dominant and then went through stretches where he was invisible.
For the Bears to compete next year,Cedric Kuakumensah needs to be at his best in every game.
mid-season hot streak
From November 28 to January 5, the Brown Bears were the hottest team in the state of Rhode Island, going 7-2 in that span.
Brown had wins over American, Bryant, Sacred Heart and a huge upset win over Providence for the second time in three years.
Things turned a bit sour after Leland King left the team and conference play began and Brown went through stretches in games in which they struggled to score but, for a few weeks, the Brown Bears were the talk of Rhode Island.
Rafael Maia
Rafael Maia concludes his career as a Brown Bear with two straight double-doubles and three double-doubles in his final four games.
Maia had eight double-doubles this season.
Maia leaves Brown with 788 points, 638 rebounds and 36 blocked shots in three years of play.
Rafael Maia ends his final season as the Ivy league's leading rebounder.
Ivy League tournament?
As Harvard and Yale get set to square off in a one game playoff next Saturday to decide who goes to the NCAA tournament it makes me wonder if there is any thought of an Ivy League tournament of some sort.
The Ivy League is the only conference that does not have a tournament and because of that, the conference play season is really long for the majority of the teams (basically anyone other than Harvard and this year Yale) in the Ivy League.
Would a tournament crown a new champion? who knows. Harvard has been pretty dominant and then has gone on and had NCAA success over the last few years, but at least a tournament will give other teams a chance. And hey, if Harvard goes through and blows out everyone on the way to a title then tip your hat and shake their hand.
This Yale-Harvard game next Saturday in Philadelphia is going to be terrific and maybe it will spark a conversation for a tournament down the road.
King Leaves Team
Leland King left the Brown men's basketball team in late January for personal reasons. His loss was costly for Brown.
Leland King was the leading scorer on Brown averaging about 18 points per game for the Bears throughout the non conference season and into conference play. Prior to the season, King was named by ESPN as one of the top sophomores to watch in the country.
If Leland King had stayed and finished the season, the Bears conference play season likely would have had two or three more wins.
