It was a night of records Saturday at Lavietes Pavilion, but the record that mattered most—wins and losses—ended up as the worst in several seasons for the Harvard men’s basketball team.

Crimson captain Brady Merchant erupted for a school-high 45 points Saturday night against Brown, but that wasn’t enough to keep Harvard from getting swept to close out the 2002-03 season.

Instead, having lost to Yale on Friday night, the Crimson finished 12-15 overall, with a 4-10 Ivy League record, good for a three-way tie for fifth place.

The final two games for Harvard’s strong senior starting corps—Merchant, point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman, forward Sam Winter and center Brian Sigafoos—provided some memorable and touching moments, but also a double dose of heartbreak. The Bulldogs (14-13, 8-6 Ivy) used a strong surge in the second half to pull away to a 95-82 victory, while the Bears (17-11, 12-2 Ivy) won a fast-paced game at the free-throw line, 93-80.

Brown 93, Harvard 80

Senior Night at Lavietes featured emotional sequences at the beginning and end of the game, with plenty of drama in between. Facing the league’s second-best team in Brown, whose only conference losses came against NCAA tournament-bound Penn, Harvard took the upper hand in the first half, only to see it snatched away by the Bears’ resilience in the second.

Merchant got off to a quick start on his record-setting night. He hit four three-pointers in the opening five minutes and remained on fire the rest of the first half.

“I came out hitting threes consistently,” Merchant said. “Once you start hitting, you don’t want to stop shooting.”

Prasse-Freeman, who racked up nine assists to tie the school’s single-season record at 207, had no problem finding Merchant, who hit some impressive off-balance three-pointers later in the half.

By the time Merchant drained his final three of the first half to put the Crimson up 34-27, he had outscored the Bears (28-27) by himself.

Merchant stayed hot in the second half, but Brown’s star guards Jason Forte and Earl Hunt rallied the Bears, who took a 44-43 lead two minutes into the second half. From then on, the game would be a series of high-paced runs by both sides.

Brown struck first halfway through the second frame, when it scored seven points in a row to go up 71-64.

Harvard responded with long-range shooting. A three-pointer by Merchant put him at 41 points on the night—tying the school record held by Ralph James ’91—and closed the margin to one point, which sophomore guard Jason Norman erased emphatically with a dunk that put the Crimson ahead 72-71 seconds later.

The Bears, with assists from the referees, then turned the NASCAR race-pace into a Sunday stroll. Brown, which went to the free-throw line 41 times during the game (versus Harvard’s nine attempts), drew fouls on its next six possessions and scored 12 straight points from the charity stripe, taking an 85-76 lead with three minutes remaining. The Crimson never recovered.

Merchant capped off his historic evening with a free throw and a late three.