The hosts led by three a minute later, before a pair of slam dunks by Wright and Casey pushed the Crimson back ahead by one.

The lead switched for the fifth and sixth times of the half when Barbour and McNally traded baskets, but at 10:50 a Casey three off a pass from freshman reserve Wesley Saunders made it 51-47 Harvard, which then held onto the advantage until the final basket of regulation.

Harvard quickly jumped out to an 18-8 lead eight minutes into the evening and took a 21-14 advantage on a three-pointer by McNally, but an 8-0 run capped by Barbour’s layup then gave the home squad its first lead since the opening minute.

Saunders pitched in five of his seven points in the final 3:20 of the half to send the Crimson into intermission with a 34-30 lead after shooting 75 percent from the field in the period.

“To their credit, all we worked on all week was defense,” Smith said. “I look at halftime and they shot 75 percent—that’s hard to do...I was so excited, I was like, ‘We’re only down four.’”

The Lions managed to keep the game within reach thanks to 10 first-half points by freshman Alex Rosenberg and 14 points off of Harvard’s seven turnovers.

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