On Harvard’s next possession, McNally found Webster set up in the same spot on the fast break, where the rookie nailed the deep ball.

Webster found space in the corner once again, this time receiving a pass from Lin and draining the shot.

One possession later, Webster popped out behind the arc at the top of the key and hit his fourth three in under three minutes. Webster would finish with a career-high 24 points on a perfect 6-of-6 mark from deep.

“I just took my shots,” Webster said. “After I saw the first one go in, I just felt confident.”

But things would go downhill quickly for the Crimson.

Harvard scored just seven points over the next 10 minutes of play, as the Mountaineers closed out the half on a 25-7 run.

“They just really dug in with defense and pressure,” Crimson coach Tommy Amaker said. “You could just tell how they turned up the pressure.”

Two baskets from Williamson in the paint and deep balls from Sims and Kellen Brand narrowed the Crimson’s lead to two.

But Harvard was able to fend off the home team for some time, extending its lead to seven at 37-30 with 4:27 left.

Then things went from bad to worse.

The Crimson went scoreless for the rest of the half and Appalachian State grabbed the lead for the first time with 1:27 remaining off a coast-to-coast layup from Brand.

Plagued by turnovers and missed shots the rest of the way, Harvard closed the half down by six.

Things would not improve coming out of the break, as the Crimson was never able to get the deficit below six for the remainder of the contest—capping off the most successful Harvard basketball season with a disappointing ending.

“I’m proud of the year we were able to accomplish this season,” Amaker said. “It’s a tough way to end with our seniors, but nonetheless I thought our kids gave great effort—but we ran into a team tonight that played exceptionally well.”

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.