And then a little something broke the Crimson's way.
As Coleman crashed the boards off Fisher's miss, he elevated and appeared inadvertently to punch the loose ball up in the air. Miraculously, the shot found the bottom of the net and Harvard was back in business.
Fisher--who finished with 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting and added nine rebounds--caught his last of several bad breaks on the ensuing possession. Fisher stripped B.C. guard Dwayne Pina at the top of the key but lost control of the ball and was forced to chase it. Tangling with Pina as the two skidded out of bounds, Fisher was whistled for his fifth personal and the Eagles went into the double-bonus.
Pina made both free throws, but Beam took a cross-court pass from freshman guard Patrick Harvey two possessions later and drilled a three-pointer from the right wing to close to 59-54.
And it was at that point that the Eagles gave up the ghost. Senior forward Bill Ewing snatched an airball in the lane then drew a foul and coolly made both ends of a one-and-one to pull to 59-56 with 1:30 remaining.
The Eagles then switched to a ball-control offense but were unable to generate quality looks and managed only 2-of-4 from the charity stripe when the Crimson was forced to foul.
"I thought we were very tentative," Skinner said. "We played passively, and we just can't do that. Harvard stayed aggressive and we didn't."
Clemente's second three-pointer of the night, a neat head-fake swish from the left wing, shaved the lead to 60-59 with 10 seconds to play and set up Beam's buzzer-beater.
"I told Dan, 'Just in case we need a shot in the end, stay ready,'" Sullivan said. "'You remember 11, don't you?' That's the play we ran when he was in there, which he remembered from last year."
B.C. looked strong out of the blocks, bearing little resemblance to the squad that dropped a 70-49 laugher to Marquette in its opener four days ago.
The Eagles shot 14-of-29 in the first half, including 6-of-11 from distance en route to a 34-24 halftime lead.
Sims made all three of his three-point attempts in the first half and scored 11 but struggled in the second half, finishing with a game-high 15. Beerbohm shot 4-of-8 and chipped in 12 for the game.
The Crimson converted from its traditional pressure defense to more zone looks in the second half.
"We went into the game thinking `Make them shoot the ball,'" Sullivan said. "They proved they could shoot the ball. They looked much more controlled than in the Marquette game. We tried to challenge them to make shots, and they did."
B.C. managed to hit 43 percent from the field and also outrebounded the Crimson 38-31, but the difference seemed to be Harvard's renewed effectiveness in generating points from its half-court sets rather than exclusively from transition. HARVARD: Long 2-7 0-0 4; Coleman 4-7 0-0 8; Fisher 5-10 0-4 10; Hill 5-14 1-1 11; Beam 4-10 0-0 12; Gellert 0-3 0-0 0; Clemente 2-4 0-0 6; Harvey 3-4 0-0 7; Ewing 1-1 2-2 4. TOTALS 26-60 3-7 62. BOSTON COLLEGE: Cotton 1-3 0-0 3; Harley 3-11 2-4 9; Beerbohm 4-8 3-4 12; Pina 1-3 3-4 5; Sims 6-9 0-1 15; Walls 1-4 1-2 4; Millar 4-8 1-1 9; Deane 0-0 0-0; Ross 2-5 0-0 4. TOTALS: 22-51 10-16 61.