Strong performances by the starters highlighted that streak.

In the team's season opener on Nov. 26, Grancio lit up Lafayette for 24 points, then a career high. Hill scored 22 against UNH in a 67-58 win on Nov. 30.

Snowden dropped 23 points on Babson as Harvard rolled, 110-67, on Dec. 2. Two days later, Hill and Snowden each scored 19 points, with the latter grabbing nine rebounds in a 77-64 defeat of Army.

A pair of three-game losing streaks, though, mired the team at .500. Included in that stretch was a 69-60 loss to Dartmouth in Harvard's Ivy opener on Dec. 17. On Jan. 2, the Crimson set a school record for three-point accuracy by converting nine of 14 in a 66-63 loss to Navy.

Harvard roared back into league contention by winning its next six games, a feat unequalled since the 1984-85 season. Five of those six wins were against Ivy opponents. Igniting that stretch, Harvard avenged its previous loss to Dartmouth with a 64-56 defeat of the Big Green on Jan. 6. Also during that span, Snowden climbed into first place in Harvard career rebounding when he grabbed 16 against Lehigh on Jan. 28.

With a 5-1 league record, championship hopes soared as the team geared for showdowns with nemesis Penn and Princeton.

Penn stalled the Crimson drive by connecting on 7-of-13 three-pointers in the first half on Feb. 7. The Quakers were even deadlier from down-town in the second half, when they made 5-of-7 from behind the arc. Overall, Penn converted 57.1 percent of its field goals.

Princeton used a stronger form of the same basic formula to defeat Harvard 75-51, the next day. Like Penn, Princeton torched Harvard from the field, with the Tigers making 60.5 percent of their shots.

Snowden snapped Harvard out of its slump by scoring a career-high 27 points in a 75-59 rout of Cornell on Feb. 14. The next day at Columbia, Snowden shelled the Lions for 21 as the Crimson rolled, 81-57. With his performance that weekend, Snowden moved into sixth place on the Harvard career scoring list.

The following weekend, facing a 20-3 Princeton squad that was 10-0 in the league, Harvard battled tenaciously. The Crimson grabbed a 22-20 lead before the Tigers reclaimed a 29-23 advantage at the half.

Princeton swelled its margin to as many as 17 in the second half, but a furious Harvard rally drew the Crimson to within five in the final minutes. Grancio shone in that game, making all six of his free throws and topping his career high with 25 points.

"Our inside players were our obvious strength," Demian said. "Grancio and Snowden each had spectacular seasons offensively and defensively."

The season culminated the next evening against Penn, when Harvard overcame a 14-point second-half deficit to win.

Demian suggested that the previous night's loss galvanized the team against Penn.

"It agitated an already-anxious crowd," Demian said. "It may have intensified things."