Moses answered with a basket in the post, but junior co-captain Oliver McNally followed with a long ball to cut Oklahoma State’s lead to 12, 47-35.

One minute later, Casey cut the deficit to 10, coming up with a steal near midcourt and finishing with a slam. After Pilgrim was whistled for traveling, junior co-captain Keith Wright brought the Crimson within single digits, finishing with his left hand under the basket.

“We just took it one possession at a time,” sophomore Brandyn Curry said. “We said we had to knock down our open shots, and during that spurt we did.”

But eight was as close as the Crimson would get.

On the Cowboys’ next possession, Markel Brown stuck a deep jumper. On his squad’s next trip up the floor, Brown attacked from the left wing, driving up the middle and throwing down a ferocious one-handed flush to give Oklahoma State the lead and the momentum.

“I thought that dunk was just a big momentum play,” Amaker said. “I think it certainly zapped our momentum and sort of transferred it back to their team and the crowd energized. That basket, in particular, was a dagger for us.”

The Crimson was unable to recover from there, falling behind by as many as 19 and eventually losing by 17.

The loss puts an end to the most successful season in Harvard basketball history in which the Crimson captured a share of the first Ivy League title in program history.

But the 2010-11 finale, coupled with Saturday’s devastating Ivy playoff defeat, left a bad taste in the mouths of Harvard's players as they make their way back from the Midwest.

“It’s a very tough way to end the season,” Curry said. “The loss to Princeton and then this. We were definitely disappointed with the way we ended.”

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