The Harvard men’s basketball team was eliminated from the Ivy League title hunt on Friday, but that didn’t seem to matter to Brady Merchant the next night against Princeton. The Crimson captain’s clutch three-pointer with 15 seconds left put Harvard on the verge of upsetting its eternal nemesis and, along with his fist-pumping celebration, brought the Lavietes Pavilion crowd to its feet.

Merchant’s heroics were soon forgotten, however, when the Crimson botched its chance at a game-winning shot, giving Princeton yet another narrow victory, 67-66, on Harvard’s home court.

“I want to be Brady Merchant when I grow up,” said Princeton coach John Thompson III. “That kid put on a hell of a show.”

But Merchant’s game-high 22 points were not enough to provide the Crimson (11-12, 3-7 Ivy) with a silver lining to what is shaping up to be a disappointing season. Unless Harvard wins its remaining four games, this season will mark the program’s first in five years with a sub-.500 conference record.

The Crimson showed plenty of heart during its rally against the Tigers, making a comeback that it could never muster against an unyielding Quaker team on Friday. In both games, however, the Crimson’s fate was the same, as its double-digit deficits proved insurmountable.

For the four Crimson seniors, Princeton will go down as the only Ivy team they could never beat.

“Regardless of what’s happened, this game hurts,” Merchant said. “The seniors especially really wanted this game. I made some of the sophomores and freshmen promise me after the game that they’d beat these guys. We’ve come awfully close a couple times and losses like this just hurt.”

Princeton 67, Harvard 66

Princeton (13-9, 7-2) found a way to best the Crimson once again Saturday night, leaving Harvard to wonder what could have changed the outcome of yet another heartbreaking loss.

With 15 seconds left, Merchant hit his second three-pointer in 36 seconds to pull the Crimson to within one. After Princeton’s Will Venable missed the front end of a one-and-one, Harvard regained possession with just 12 seconds to go.

Following a timeout, senior point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman inbounded the ball to Merchant, who was instantly trapped. Merchant kicked the ball back to Prasse-Freeman, who drove into the lane and put up an off-balance shot that caught the backboard and the rim but would not fall.

“I should have shot the ball when I first caught it,” Prasse-Freeman said. “It’s a play that I’ve already run over in my mind a couple of times, and I probably will a couple more from here on out.”

The Tigers went with a big lineup after the timeout to keep the Crimson from getting an offensive rebound and a second chance to win the game.

“Most of the time it’s not the first shot that beats you,” Thompson said. “It’s the put-back that beats you. I just wanted to make sure that we got the rebound.”

The loss to Princeton was Harvard’s fourth straight at home, and the third in a row that came down to the final shot. The Tigers’ last three wins at Lavietes Pavilion have come by a total of five points.