Harvard looked inside early in the contest, as two early Wright layups—one an and-one—and two Casey free throws gave Harvard a quick 7-2 lead. Cornell fought back on two Gray baskets to tie the game at nine, but the Crimson went on a 16-6 run capped by a Rivard three to go up 25-15. Later, another Rivard long-ball—on which he was fouled but missed the free throw—put the Crimson up, 30-18.

Two Saunders free throws stretched the lead to 14 with 1:24 to go, and the freshman hit a layup at the buzzer to give the Crimson a 38-24 lead heading into the half.

Harvard held Ferry, the Big Red’s leading scorer, to just six points on 2-of-10 shooting.

“We knew they set a lot of screens for him,” Rivard said. “He runs a lot [and] has a really quick release. So we really focused on helping out with screens, having a hand on him, and footstepping.”

Freshman guard Corbin Miller played a season-high 21 minutes for the Crimson but shot zero-for-seven from downtown. The rookie had been 17-for-28 (61%) coming into the contest, which would have led the NCAA if he had qualified with more attempts.

“During the game I just told him, ‘Keep shooting’,” Rivard said. “Tomorrow he’s just got to shoot his first shot like nothing happened, and that’s what great shooters should do.”

Cornell committed 27 fouls, allowing the Crimson to get to the line 34 times. It hit 29 of those free throws, but Amaker was disappointed with his team’s performance on the whole.

“I just wish we could play better and more consistently throughout the game,” he said.

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.