For the Crimson, Kevin Rogus was the bright spot on offense, shooting 8-of-15, including four second-half threes. But while Rogus was able to shake free of the defense for the first time in several games, the normally solid duo of junior center Brian Cusworth and junior forward Matt Stehle was held in check.

Cusworth had 10 points and four boards, and Stehle scored 10 on 3-of-12 shooting, while collecting a game-high 11 rebounds. Harvard was held to 35 percent from the field on the night by Cornell’s combination of man-to-man and 1-3-1 zone defenses.

“Cornell guarded us real well,” Sullivan said. “They went to the zone at very timely points...the 1-3-1 definitely bothered us.”

Harvard was able to hold Cornell’s two leading scorers, forward Lenny Collins and guard Cody Toppert, to a combined 13 points. By focusing on stopping that duo, however, it left the interior open for Rourke.

“Our experience with Cornell has been Toppert and Collins, and doing a good job on the perimeter,” Sullivan said. “That opened up things around the basket.”

Harvard’s loss prevented it from gaining a game on Penn, as the Ivy-leading Quakers dropped their first league game to Yale. With the defeat, the Crimson falls into a tie with Dartmouth for fourth place.

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