OVERTURNED

While Harvard’s offensive balance was on full display—four Crimson starters reached double digits—also apparent was a problem that has haunted the team all year: turnovers.

A tenacious Columbia defense forced nine Harvard turnovers in the first half, leading to the only easy buckets for the home squad all night.

Apart from the usual assortment of traveling violations and offensive fouls, the Crimson also mishandled passes and made dangerous forays into traffic, mistakes that allowed the Lions to remain in contention throughout the first half.

After a long three by junior co-captain Oliver McNally gave Harvard a 13-point lead with 2:19 remaining, three consecutive Crimson turnovers paved the way for Columbia to head into halftime trailing by nine.

All in all, a night after coughing it up only 10 times against the Big Red, Harvard gave it away 15 times, which led to 13 Lions points.

“You give them credit,” Amaker said. “They scrapped and clawed, and they played hard, and they knocked it off of us. They made us turn it over.”

—Staff writer Dennis J. Zheng can be reached at dzheng12@college.harvard.edu.