Miller came up with the rebound and missed a three-point attempt on the other end, but Peck was there for the offensive board. The senior finished a put-back layup to pull the Big Red within two with 42 seconds remaining.

The Crimson successfully inbounded the ball against the Cornell pressure and Chambers milked the shot clock near midcourt.

With 11 ticks remaining, Cornell’s Miles Asafo-Adjei fouled Chambers, sending the rookie to the line to shoot a one-and-one. Chambers, who entered the contest shooting over 85 percent from the charity stripe, missed the front end.

Peck pulled down the miss and pushed the ball up the court. With three seconds remaining, Peck launched a triple from the top of the key that would have given the Big Red its first lead of the contest and the win, but the ball caromed off the backboard and the Crimson emerged with the victory.

Excluding its offensive woes down the stretch, the Crimson had success against the Big Red defense, shooting 55.1 percent from the field—its fourth best clip of the season—and 44.4 percent from beyond the arc.

Chambers led Harvard offensively with 18 points and 11 assists. Webster contributed a season-high 17 points, connecting on 5 of 11 three-point attempts. The Crimson’s lone senior knocked down two critical threes with 5:14 and 4:21 remaining, extending Harvard’s lead from 11 to 15.

“Some of the shots he made weren’t necessarily open,” Amaker said. “He made some really tough shots at the end of the shot clock.”

Saunders and Moundou-Missi also finished in double-figures, contributing 14 and 11 points, respectively.

The pair played a critical role in the game’s opening minutes, scoring 10 of the Crimson’s first 12 points, as Harvard jumped out to an early 12-3 advantage.

The Big Red pulled within two, 12-10, off a John Figini layup with 12:15 remaining. But Harvard responded with a 19-6 run—fueled by two Webster triples and seven Chambers points—to go up by 15, 31-16.

The Crimson went into the break up 16, 38-22. Harvard’s lead grew to as many as 21 following a Chambers triple with 16:55 to go before the Big Red started to chip away at the lead.

Coming off the bench, Peck posted a team-high 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Miller added 13 points, and Gray chipped in with 12.

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @MartinKessler91.