“We had trouble guarding the ball a little bit,” Rivard said. “They blew by us a couple times. It was a little too easy.”

Harvard’s lead hovered at two for the next three minutes of play, as the teams traded baskets. But after Sandro Carissimo’s jumper made it 41-39 Harvard with 9:03 to go, the Crimson began to get stops and hit shots.

Wright and junior point guard Brandyn Curry scored on the Crimson’s next two possessions, and Wright put Harvard up by seven with a free throw.

After Vermont’s Brian Voelkel turned it over, the Crimson took the ball the other way. Curry skipped a pass to Rivard on the right wing, and the sophomore buried the shot to put Harvard ahead, 49-39, less than three minutes after Carissimo’s shot.

“Kind of vintage Laurent with a big shot, a big dagger,” said Amaker of Rivard, who was playing in front of nearly 50 friends and family who made the two-hour trip from his native Quebec to the game. “Certainly he’s done it again for us.”

The Crimson’s lead never dipped below four the rest of the way, and Harvard delivered Vermont its eighth defeat at Patrick Gymnasium in its past 43 games.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Amaker said. “Very pleased with us to be able to get a win in this environment against a team that we knew had a lot thrown into this one.”

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