While the snow swirled outside the Pizzitola Center last night, Jason Forte '05 was heating up the gym inside. Forte ended his collegiate career and the 2004-05 men's basketball season in style, as he led the Bears with 29 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in a 75-65 defeat of Yale.
When Forte was asked how meaningful such a sold all-around effort was for him on his Senior Night, he shifted the focus back to the team.
"I was just glad to get the win," Forte said. "(Playing basketball at Brown has) been a beautiful experience for me. It's given me a platform to perform, and hopefully the younger guys will carry this over into next season."
Before the game, Forte walked to center court accompanied by his mother, Wanda Hightower. Head Coach Glen Miller joined them as Forte received a plaque commemorating his numerous achievements.
As soon as the game started, however, Forte and the rest of the Bears were all business. Forte drained a long three-pointer to put Brown on the board three minutes in. After a Yale layup, Luke Ruscoe '06 hit a short jumper to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 6-5. The remainder of the first half turned into a slugfest, as the two teams combined for 23 fouls and racked up 23 free throws between them.
As has been the case recently, Brown struggled from the field, shooting 38 percent for the half. However, Bruno drilled five threes in the first 20 minutes to keep the score reasonably close, with Forte and Damon Huffman '08 hitting two apiece. Forte was also his usual reliable self from the charity stripe, as the Ivy League's leading free-throw shooter went 8-of-8 for the half.
Down 37-35 at the break, Bruno took it to the Bulldogs in the second half. The Bears took their first lead, 39-37, on a P.J. Flaherty '07 hook shot.
The team came out crashing the boards with tenacity. At 15:50 Huffman, with two Bulldogs draped all over him, was able to tap a loose ball to Forte on the defensive end. On the ensuing possession, Huffman was able to split two defenders with a bounce pass to Forte, who calmly sank a three for a 47-43 lead. The Bears out-rebounded Yale in the second half by 11, with guard Marcus Becker '07 chipping in with six offensive boards.
"We said at the half that it was going to come down to the team that wanted the game more," Miller said. "We missed a few shots and had a few turnovers, but we had a lot of hustle. Marcus' effort was just that."
The Bears began to wear down Yale and took a 54-47 lead on Huffman's fourth three of the game, forcing Yale Head Coach James Jones to call a timeout. The Bulldogs refused to concede, and they responded with 7-2 run to make it 56-54 in favor of Brown with nine minutes left.
Bruno composed itself, however, as Huffman capped a run with his final three of the game to push the lead back to eight with 4:36 remaining.
If Yale had not realized the game was over at that point, Ruscoe made it official as he slammed home a two-handed jam off an inbounds play with less than four minutes left. The Elis packed it in after that with a missed shot and a turnover on their next two possessions, and Forte finished them off with four free throws down the stretch.
For the game, Forte went 16-of-18 from the line, but two misses in the final 69 seconds tainted an otherwise pristine performance.
"Yeah, I always seem to do that," Forte said when asked about his near perfect streak.
With the win, Forte ended his career with 60 wins under his belt, second only to the Class of 2003, which posted 63. Miller acknowledged that Forte would be missed greatly next season.
"We all wanted him to win this one," he said. "We wanted him to have a good game, but we wanted him to win. This hasn't been the ideal situation for him this season - every senior wants to go to the NCAA tournament, but I give him a lot of credit for his effort this year."
The win was also something the team looks to build on next year with everyone sans Forte returning.
"It is definitely a good win for us," Miller said. "It gives us a little momentum heading into the spring."
The night, though, belonged to Forte.
"I couldn't accomplish all the things that I accomplished without the help of a lot of people, starting with Coach Miller, who recruited me," Forte said. "I'm grateful for the experiences I had here and the guys who helped me out along the way, especially the other coaches on the staff. The older players set a great example for me when I first got here, and the younger guys have been real fun to play with. I'm sure they will continue to succeed in the future."
