It was a perfect ending to a not-so-perfect afternoon.

The Harvard men's basketball team (4-3, 1-0 Ivy) narrowly escaped a demoralizing defeat to Dartmouth (1-6, 0-1), pulling out with a rather messy 79-78 decision on the last second heroics of captain Dan Clemente and sophomore guard Patrick Harvey.

Down 78-74 with just six seconds remaining, Clemente took an assist from sophomore point guard Elliot Prasse-Freeman and drained a three to pull within one.

With just three seconds on the clock, the Crimson needed a big play to get possession for a chance to win. Harvey stepped up, stealing the inbounds pass from Big Green junior guard Flinder Boyd and immediately put the ball up. Boyd fouled Harvey on the way up, giving him two shots from the line.

Harvey, who went into the game as the second leading free throw shooter in the nation at 97.6 percent, easily sank both, putting the Crimson up 79-78. That tally would be the final score, as sophomore guard Brady Merchant intercepted Dartmouth's long inbounds pass to seal the victory.

"We needed somebody to come up big," Harvey said. "We couldn't be giving up any games, and we couldn't just let up in the end. The ball kind of bounced our way a little bit, and we hit the big shots when we needed to, which is key."

Oddly enough, the closing seconds of the game served as redemption for what were more or less sub-par games from Harvey and Clemente.

Harvey, whose three-point accuracy and slashing moves account for his 14.7 points a game, had shot only 6-for-15 against Dartmouth. For much of the game Harvey was visibly distraught, having committed 4 turnovers in addition to his poor shooting.