Two years ago, the Harvard men’s basketball team tallied four wins in the entire season.

With a 69-56 victory over UC Davis yesterday at Lavietes Pavilion, the Crimson (4-0) matched that victory total, as Harvard is now in the midst of its best start since 1997.

“Last year [we] bounced back and won 12 games after four, so the continual progression is something that I think is really solid,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “It’s just nice to have four [wins] now rather than at the end of the year.”

For the second time in three games, the Crimson took control of a close contest in the game’s latter stages, outscoring the Aggies (0-3) by 36-24 in the second half.

The Crimson was carried down the stretch by captain Matt Stehle, who scored a season-high 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. It looked as though the senior forward would be neutralized when, early in the second half, he picked up his third foul on a charging call and headed to the bench. Just six minutes later, however, Stehle returned and quickly helped turn the outcome.

After guard Phil Rasmussen’s three pointer pulled UC Davis within 44-42 with thirteen minutes to play in the game, Stehle scored all 12 points in a 12-2 Crimson run that extended the lead to 56-44, giving Harvard its largest lead of the game. Stehle, who entered the game shooting only 23 percent from the floor, nailed a jumper, put in a layup off a feed from junior center Brian Cusworth, knocked down a pair of three-pointers and added two free throws. In all, he amassed 18 of Harvard’s 36 second half points.

“I didn’t have to work too hard for anything—it was really my teammates,” Stehle said. “When you’re getting easy baskets like that it’s not difficult to get going.”

UC Davis managed to trim the lead down to seven with 4:53 remaining, after a pair of free throws by forward Thomas Juillerat. Junior guard Jim Goffredo answered by knocking down a pull-up 15-footer, and senior forward Mike Beal followed his own missed dunk with a reverse layup, giving Harvard a commanding 62-51 advantage with four minutes to go.

Despite shooting a blistering 12-of-18 in the first period, Harvard trailed by as much as five, 17-12, and managed to take only a 33-32 lead into halftime. The Aggies hung with the bigger, more experienced Crimson by shooting 59 percent from the floor and forcing 10 turnovers.

“We were too worried about where they were rather than just playing defense, and we just didn’t come out aggressive, we came out really lackadaisical,” Stehle said. “It was a tough turnaround for us [from Friday’s game], but we were kind of giving ourselves an excuse to play badly in the first half.”

Harvard turned up the defensive pressure after the break, holding UC Davis to only 7-of-21 from the floor while out-rebounding the Aggies by five.

“In the locker room at halftime, basically the sentiment was the first half was some of the worst basketball we’ve played in our four games,” Cusworth said. “We came out with a lot of energy in the second half, with the determination to shut them down.”

Cusworth kept the Crimson afloat in the first half, compiling 15 points on 7-of-7 shooting. He was unable to get on track offensively after halftime, but contributed on the defensive end with two of his four blocks, and also assisted low-post partner Stehle on two of his baskets.

“We were just able to find each other,” Cusworth said. “That’s the way we feel like we should be able to play all the time.”

The Crimson also got another strong performance from senior forward Mike Beal, who scored 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting to go along with game-highs of seven rebounds and five assists. Following Stehle’s layup to open the second half, Beal scored five straight points on a jumper and a three-pointer to gave Harvard some separation. Beal then put the cap on the victory by dunking home the team’s final points in transition.

UC Davis was led by Rasmussen, who had 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Guard Rommel Marentez added 12 points, and guard Vince Oliver had eight and four assists.

The win was Harvard’s third in six days, and came on the heels of Friday night’s difficult 75-72 road victory over Sacred Heart.

“This was real important that the seniors kind of take ownership, in a very difficult week with a lot of games and not much practice time,” Sullivan said. “I think we’re all just generally relieved that we got through the week with three victories.”

Harvard will look to match the 1997-98 squad’s 5-0 start on Wednesday night at Lavietes Pavilion when they take on New Hampshire. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

—Staff writer Caleb W. Peiffer can be reached at cpeiffer@fas.harvard.edu.