Stehle was called for his third just past the midway point of the first half with Harvard leading 15-8 and had to take a seat.

Vermont seized the opportunity and fed the ball to Coppenrath, who immediately established himself inside in Stehle’s absence.

“We got into foul trouble early and they got into the double bonus quickly,” Rogus said. “The punishment for the fouls we committed came in the second part of the first half.”

Colgate 78, Harvard 60

Despite a career-high 29 points from Rogus and a halftime lead of 34-33, Harvard faded fast down the stretch, losing its seventh game of the season against Colgate Friday night at Lavietes Pavilion.

The Crimson was unable to contain the potent Raiders’ offense, while Colgate’s defensive pressure forced Harvard to turn the ball over 22 times. The Raiders shot 48.2 percent from the field and four reached double figures in points, led by senior forward Howard Blue with 17.

“I think our inability to guard them effectively really hurt us,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “Whenever a team shoots 48 percent against you and you turn the ball over as much as we did, you’re going to have a hard time winning the game.”

Coming off its most lopsided loss in over 12 years—an 86-42 shellacking at the hands of the crosstown rival Boston University on Tuesday—the Crimson knew it would have to bounce back with a strong performance early in the game. Rogus answered the call, exploding on the offensive end with 19 first-half points on 7-for-11 shooting.

“We were able to get it going behind Kevin who really helped us get out of that rut with a couple of big threes and some layups in the early going,” Stehle said.

Harvard trailed Colgate 19-11 early on before making some key defensive stops, triggering an 8-0 run to tie the game at 19.

With 1:22 left in the first half, the Raiders forged ahead by five, 33-28. However, a free throw and a three-pointer by Rogus followed by a breakaway bucket by Norman gave the Crimson its one-point halftime lead.

“We didn’t come out strong to start out with,” Stehle said. “But we just played solid defense and did a real good job on the boards. We kept them out of their game by holding [preseason All-Patriot League guard Mark] Linebaugh to four [first-half] points. It was a real defensive effort.”

Harvard came out strong from the dressing room in the second half, scoring four quick points to run its lead to 38-33 and extend its run from before the half to 10.

Colgate quickly answered with a 13-3 run of its own to take a 46-41 lead on the strength of increased defensive pressure on the Crimson guards, especially from Raider guard Alvin Reed. Beal had an especially tough time with the pressure, turning the ball over five times in only 15 minutes without collecting an assist before fouling out.

“The second something went bad, everything just fell apart,” Rogus said. “The second something happens—they’re playing ball pressure—you just see us disoriented. We don’t run our offense and that reciprocates it so they can go and put ball pressure on us.”