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Harvard picked up its first win of 2016 and moved to 1-0 in Ivy League play with a 77-70 win over Dartmouth (4-9, 0-1 Ivy League) on Saturday at Lavietes Pavilion. In a back-and-forth game that featured 13 ties and four lead changes, The Crimson (7-8, 1-0) rode an undersized lineup and converted its free throws down the stretch to come away with the win at home.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP

The Class of 2016 was huge for Harvard on Saturday. Senior forward Patrick Steeves was a game-time decision for Saturday’s contest but the Montreal native showed no ill effects from the injury that kept him out of last week’s game against Vermont. Classmate Agunwa Okolie, the team’s top perimeter defender, was the catalyst for Harvard on both ends of the floor. With junior power forward/center Zena Edosomwan facing double teams, fourth-year Evan Cummins picked up the scoring slack down low.

“It was a terrific performance out of some guys that have really stepped up as seniors for us,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “I was really happy for our guys.”

All told, the trio of upperclassmen combined for 59 points, 17 rebounds, and seven assists to will the Crimson to a scratch-and-claw victory over the Big Green. Okolie posted a career-best 29 points while the 20 points and four three-pointers were both highs for Steeves. Entering the contest, the trio had combined for an average of 23.6 points per game.

After Dartmouth cut the Harvard lead to one with 7:19 to play, the senior trio scored the last 19 points of the game for the Crimson. The biggest of those points came on a corner three from Okolie with 52 seconds to go after the Big Green had cut the lead to three on the previous possession. The Okolie trey, just his sixth attempt of the season, put the game out of reach.

“Huge play, huge shot as we know,” Amaker said. “[It] kind of gave us that cushion as we were able to close it out.”

With their team shooting just 60 percent from the charity stripe entering the game, Okolie and Steeves knocked down their final six free throw attempts to seal the win.

FINISHING STRONG

Harvard’s victory was spearheaded by strong runs to end each of the half. Dartmouth had control for most of the opening period and took a nine-point lead with 4:05 to play in the first half. However, after a Steeves three cut the lead to five, Amaker took a timeout that would ultimately prove to be a turning point. Three defensive stops, two three-pointers, and a layup later, the Crimson entered the locker room with a share of the lead.

Sixteen minutes of game action later, Harvard came out of the game’s final media timeout holding just a one-point lead. Once again, the Crimson used the final four minutes for a key run. This time around, Harvard scored 14 of the game’s final 22 points, six coming on free throws.

“Give credit to [Dartmouth],” Amaker said. “They came back and fought and made this a nail-biter and then we were able to separate right there at the end.”

Down the stretch, Harvard utilized a smaller lineup. Edosomwan struggled to score for much of the game, constantly battling double teams and foul trouble. Amaker countered with his core group of three seniors surrounded by junior Corbin Miller and either freshman Corey Johnson or sophomore Andre Chatfield. The lineup worked against a Big Green team that did not have a player over 6’8”.

“Never easy in the Ivy League, always a dogfight,” Amaker said. “I was really pleased for our kids and seeing different players that really had to step forward for us to come up with that kind of win in that environment.”

—Staff writer Stephen J. Gleason can be reached at sgleason@college.harvard.edu.