Harris, Drexel down Vermont
During Drexel's first official preseason practice in mid-October, Bruiser Flint stopped and thought for a second. He narrowed his brow and shrugged.
"Well, we should be OK," the Dragons' coach said. "But we still have to see who's actually going to score the ball."
Nearly a month and a half later, he may have an answer.
In a 74-61 victory over Vermont at the Daskalakis Center yesterday, Jamie Harris raised his hand. Pouring in 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting, the junior guard led the Dragons (2-3) to a win on the first day of the Legends Classic at Drexel.
"It's something that's new to me, but something I have to do for the team," Harris said. "So I've got to be comfortable with it."
Three days after scoring a career-high 22 points in a win over Penn, Harris revised his personal record book. Using an array of midrange jumpers and lofted floaters in traffic, he was a menace. Just as important, he played 36 minutes without a turnover.
"He made some key baskets when we were playing good defense," Vermont coach Mike Lonergan said. "We just got outplayed at the guard position."
Those other guards were junior Gerald Colds and freshman Chris Fouch. Colds complemented Harris' performance with 16 points, while Fouch added 14.
"We played well and we shot the ball well," Flint said. "We don't always do that, even when we shoot layups."
Entering the game, the Dragons had connected on 15 three-pointers all season. By halftime, they had five, building a 41-33 advantage at the break. The lead developed from a 23-7 run midway through the first half that featured back-to-back technical fouls called on Vermont - one on Marqus Blakely, the other on Lonergan.
With 9 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the second half, a Blakely layup cut the Dragons' lead to three.
From there, Colds and Harris scored 16 of the Dragons' final 20 points to close out the victory.
