At that point, the momentum was clearly in Roanoke’s favor. The Maroons had shot 50 percent from the field in the first half (as compared to Harvard’s 40 percent) and hit on 5-of-9 three-pointers (55.6 percent).

To complicate matters, Roanoke center Nathan Stewart (18 points) was causing the Crimson match-up problems because of his inside-out ability that resulted in 11 first-half points.

“We went into the locker room and gave ourselves a look in the mirror,” Winter said. “We knew we had to play better than we did in the first half.”

And they did, even though Roanoke took the lead twice, at 53-51 and 56-54, before a lay-up by senior center Brian Sigafoos tied the game just after the 16-minute mark. A jumper by Winter put Harvard back on top, 58-56, with 15:34 to go.

The Crimson never trailed again, thanks in part to 12 second-half points from captain Brady Merchant and two momentum-shifting charges drawn by sophomore guard Kevin Rogus.

“I don’t think we guarded particularly well either half, but we made some shots in the second half that were timely,” Sullivan said.

Senior guard Patrick Harvey led the Crimson with 21 points.

The Ivy League season now begins in earnest for Harvard, starting with Saturday’s rematch with Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H.

Winter, who had 13 points and 12 rebounds in the Crimson’s 67-50 win over the Big Green in the Ivy opener, described Saturday’s game as “huge.”

“That would give us 10 wins going into the break, and we’d be 2-0 in the Ivy League,” Winter said. “That’d be real big for us. That’s our focus. We don’t have anything to look forward to on the basketball court except for that game for a really long time.”

—Staff writer Jon P. Morosi can be reached at jpmorosi@fas.harvard.edu.