With Saturday’s contest marking Harvard’s Senior Night, it was, appropriately, two of the Crimson’s veterans that kept it within striking distance in the first half.  

Falling behind by seven in the early going, Harvard relied on the two-man game of Saunders and senior Kenyatta Smith to inch its way back into the contest.

The hot shooting of Brown’s junior forward Cedric Kuakumensah had enabled the team to control the tempo for much of the opening period; the Bears’ leading scorer hit three triples from the left wing in a matter of minutes, matching the entire Crimson squad in scoring through 7:26 of play with 11 apiece.   

But a series of short corner jump shots from Harvard’s big men—Moundou-Missi and Travis—brought the Crimson back within one, 20-19. And on two of the next three possessions, Saunders found classmate Smith in the heart of the lane, with the latter scoring both times. The second of those buckets gave Harvard its first lead in almost 12 minutes, and marked Saunders’s fifth assist to Smith in the first 17 minutes of play.

On the night, the Bears were paced by Kuakumensah, who tallied a game-high 23 points in 38 minutes. Four players scored in double figures for Harvard, with Chambers leading the pack with 15 points and Saunders, Travis, and Smith notching 12 points apiece.

“[It was] just a really good team effort by our kids, especially coming off of last night,” Amaker said. “We use the phrase [‘regrouping and responding’] all the time…and I can’t imagine our teams have been able to do that any better than we did tonight.”

On Saturday, Harvard needed a little help from a conference rival to give its postseason hopes some life. But when it takes on Yale next weekend in an attempt to punch a ticket to its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament, it’ll have to rely solely on its own means to come out on top.  

And the Crimson can’t wait for that moment.   

"To have an opportunity to play to be the ultimate representative in the NCAA Tournament next weekend—what an opportunity for our team," Amaker said. "[This] is a big lesson to just keep your head down and keep going, just keep going.”

—Staff writer Juliet Spies-Gans can be reached at juliet.spies-gans@thecrimson.com.