Still, after BC’s Louis Hinnant missed a pair of foul shots with 2:34 left, Harvard suddenly had a chance to tie. With a three, Harvard could even take the lead, though that’s not how the Crimson was thinking. “Just get a basket,” Sullivan thought. “Anyway we could, just get a basket.”

But the possession was over before it ever really got started. Harvey was dribbling around the perimeter trying to create something and, with Hinnant swarming him, Harvey lost the handle. Hinnant scooped up the loose ball and BC started killing the clock.

It was one possession too many without Prasse-Freeman, who logged only 26 minutes. On the game’s most important possession, the most important player was the one who was missing, the one who hadn’t scored a point all day.

“You do miss him because he is certainly an expert passer,” Sullivan said of Prasse-Freeman. “I don’t think the players thought, ‘Oh, we can’t execute without him.’ But yeah, we miss him.”

Harvey didn’t score in the final 4:58 of the game. It doesn’t bode well for your chances of winning a close game when your go-to scorer gets shut out in the closing minutes.

As it was, Harvard was forced to content itself with being competitive.

“We have the same amount of wins as we had at Christmas time a year ago,” Sullivan added. “Some of our road wins have been good, solid wins. Hopefully it bodes well.”

Hopefully. But probably only if Prasse-Freeman is on the floor to take part in it.

—Staff writer Brian E. Fallon can be reached at bfallon@fas.harvard.edu.