For the second consecutive game, the 6’4 Beal led the Crimson in rebounding. Rogus was second with five boards to go along with his game-high 16 points, while freshman guard Jim Goffredo and Stehle added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The battle-tested Crusaders, who have won the Patriot League and gone to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons and scared Marquette—which eventually reached the Final Four—before falling 72-68 in the first round of last year’s tournament, shot 13-of-15 from the free-throw line in the second half.

Harvard also had a chance to beat Fairfield, which went to the National Invitation Tournament last year, before falling 65-60 on Friday.

“We’re right there, and that’s the most disappointing part,” Beal said. “We’re good enough and we’re right there. We should be winning both these games—Fairfield and this game—and it’s just our youth and not knowing how to finish it out, not knowing how to really close it out and make the big plays that we need at the end. That’s just something that we’re going to have to learn over time.”

—Staff writer Alan G. Ginsberg can be reached at aginsber@fas.harvard.edu.