Columbia, buoyed by a three-game winning streak and a pre-game celebration of its undefeated 1951 championship squad, blew out of the blocks so quickly the game looked like it was over midway through the first half, with the Lions sporting a 23-7 lead.

The Light Blue had all the numbers in its favor in the first half. As a team, it shot 11-of-23 ( 47.8 percent) from the floor, including hitting 5-of-10 from three-point land. Meanwhile Harvard struggled, shooting 9-of-30 (30 percent) and only 2-of-10 from beyond the arc.

"We didn't do a good job defensively, and we were not rebounding," sophomore point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman said about the first half. "We got desperate and started fouling, and they hit their free throws."

Columbia shot 36 free throws in the game, converting 25 of them.

Down 40-23 after the first half, things got worse before they got better for Harvard. The Lions scored the first five points of the second half, and got its largest lead of the game, 45-23, when Austin hit a three-pointer with 18:29 left to play.

The Crimson turned a complete 180 degrees after that. Harvard scored 12 points in a row, then seven more to go on a 19-2 run. Columbia did not hit a field goal for another 12 minutes.

Sophomore guard Patrick Harvey's three-pointer with 4:38 left brought Harvard as close as it was going to get at 51-46. Even though Harvard had narrowed the gap, it had used defense to get there (the Crimson only shot 10-of-30 in the second half), and the Lions couldn't be stopped entirely. Columbia went on a 9-0 run to finish the Crimson off.

"It was a matter of us playing the game we know how to play," Prasse-Freeman said. "It was a disappointment that we didn't get over the hump."