Shaking off an uncharacteristically slow start, guard Donald Sims—who leads his team in scoring with 20 points per game—knocked in six threes on the way to a team-high 22 points.

Combining for 24 points, teammates Brand and reserve Marcus Wright also did damage getting into the lane and showed off impressive midrange games, enabling the Mountaineers to pull away to a 16-point lead at the 11:24 mark.

With its big men clearly overmatched in the paint, Harvard’s headliners on the perimeter couldn’t bring their team all the way back.

Co-captain Jeremy Lin contributed a 12-point, seven-rebound effort, but the guard was never dominant in the final game of his Harvard career and went 0-for-3 from behind the arc—attempts that all missed badly.

“They were physical, and they were fast, and that’s not necessarily something that we’re used to,” Lin said. “They surprised us, and they played better than us.”

Freshman Brandyn Curry was 3-of-6 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers, but the lone bright spot for Harvard was the play of wing Christian Webster. The rookie led his team with a career-high of 24 points, including 6-of-6 from three-point range.

Most of his offensive barrage came in the first half as the Crimson established its lead. Webster spotted up and hit a trio of treys all from nearly the same spot deep in the left corner.

Later in the second half, Webster would find the mark again on a clean three from the left wing, putting Harvard back within single digits with just over 15 minutes to go.

But on the next possession, Butts would lay the ball in off an offensive rebound by Brand, and the Mountaineers would run away with the home win.