Harvard’s 16-4 run to open the night was highlighted by an emphatic dunk on a fast break from junior wingman Agunwa Okolie. Okolie brought heightened athleticism to the Crimson offense, as his explosiveness was a perfect complement to the already dynamic backcourt of Chambers and Saunders.

Stout defense and offensive efficiency resulted in 22 points in just 11 minutes for Harvard. Both Chambers and sophomore sharpshooter Corbin Miller found themselves wide-open for threes, as junior Evan Cummins and senior Kenyatta Smith prevented the Huskies’ defense from extending beyond the paint.

Though Harvard eventually went six minutes without a field goal in the half, it looked much more like the team that many had expected to be in Cambridge this winter, a preseason top-25.

After watching Northeastern drain a three and cut the lead to two to start the second half, the burst of energy seemed to return Harvard.

In the second half, Chambers and Saunders both began to push the pace. In transition, the two are make up one the most dynamic backcourts in the country, as Chamber’s seems to always be able to find his leading scorer.

“We got up in transition that half and Siyani was pushing it,” said Saunders. “We were getting ahead before they could set up the defense, so we did a much better job of attacking them.”

Harvard’s defense was the catalyst to many of those fast breaks, as they held Northeastern to just 30.8 percent from the field in the second half. While freshman Andre Chatfield and senior Jonah Travis have traditionally come off the bench and brought the energy for Harvard this year, Chambers and Saunders had no problem providing the spark in the second half.  

—Staff writer Andrew Farber can reached at andrewfarber@college.harvard.edu.