PHILADELPHIA — Typically, open 40-footers aren’t exactly the kinds of shots offenses thrive on.
But with 1.8 seconds left in the first half of Harvard’s 74-55 win over Cornell in the first round of the Ivy League tournament on Saturday, it was the perfect look.
After climbing out of a 7-point hole with a 13-4 run, the Crimson had one possession left before the half, but they had to go the length of the Palestra floor to get a shot off.
Crimson coach Tommy Amaker already had the play in mind.
“In situations like that, you hopefully have something and when you do, you hope you can execute it as best you can,’’ Amaker said. “And when you do all those things, you still need to be lucky.’’
He essentially had sophomore forward Robert Baker play quarterback and 6-foot-9-inch forward Chris Lewis play tight end.
Baker aired out a long inbounds pass from the baseline. Lewis skied over Jack Gordon to grab it at the 3-point line. Then he looked for his options.
“When I jumped in the air, I saw that Corey [Johnson] was a little bit behind me on my left side and [Justin] Bassey was a little bit behind me on my right side and I saw [Christian] Juzang coming down the middle,’’ Lewis said. “
Juzang was hanging out just behind half court waiting for the completion.
“I thought the best play was to give it to Juzang,’’ Lewis said. “I knew he could knock it down, because he has the confidence to do it.’’
He was expecting the pass from Lewis. The pass put Juzang in the split of the “Y’’ at the end of the Ivy League logo just inside the half-court line.
Coincidentally, even if it seemed like long shot, it was a spot Juzang was more than comfortable firing from.
“My teammate Corey Johnson and I try to get a couple of those up in practice every day,’’ Juzang said.
He was already in his catch-and-shoot motion, as if he were 15 feet from the rim and not 40, and he let it fly. He watched it all the way until it swished through the net.
“A little bit of God, a little bit of practice and it went in,’’ Juzang said. “I think once I left my hands, it felt good, it looked good. I just held my follow-through as long as I could. When it went in, it was one of those things, Corey actually beat me in HORSE the other day from that spot, so I looked at him after.’’
The Crimson bench exploded. Cornell’s bench was mind-blown, not only that the shot did go in, but also that there wasn’t a foul called on Lewis with Gordon still on the hardwood.
The shot capped a 16-4 run — sparked by a trio of 3’s from Juzang — that washed away the Crimson’s first-half defensive struggles, let them take a 37-32 lead into the locker room, and fueled their walkover of the Big Red.
“I thought that allowed us to kind of put an exclamation point on the 13-4 run,’’ Amaker said. “Then that shot — it hurts if you’re on the other side and we’ve been on the other side of those shots where you have to regroup and rally at halftime. I thought our kids were able to catch a little excitement there and ran with it.’’
The Crimson overwhelmed Cornell in the second half, shooting 52 percent.
Seth Towns, the Ivy League Player of the Year, finished with a game-high 24 points on 7-of-18 shooting with a game-high 12 rebounds. He knocked down 3 of his 7 3-point attempts, including one accidental bucket that was intended to be a lob pass for Lewis.
Lewis (16 points, 10 rebounds) posted his fifth double-double of the season, while Juzang ignited the Crimson with 12 points, going 4 for 6 from 3.
After a disappointing semifinal exit in the inaugural Ivy tournament last year, the Crimson (18-12) advanced to Sunday’s championship game where they will play Penn (23-8) at noon. The winner will go to the NCAA Tournament, where the Crimson haven’t been since 2015.
“It’s a major step and we’re hopeful that we have a little more in the gas tank for tomorrow,’’ Amaker said.
“But certainly, first thing’s first, can we play well enough to be deserving of a victory here this afternoon? And I like to think we accomplished that very well.’’
Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @julianbenbow.
