The team succeeded on the first of those notes, outrebounding the Bulldogs 46-43 in the contest despite the size and skill of the Yale front line and the length of its starting backcourt. Edosomwan had 13 rebounds on the day, a near even split between offense and defense.

The team struggled to slow Copeland in the first frame, however. In all three games of the series against Yale this year, Copeland and Aiken have traded baskets and faced each other on defense and in the first half on Saturday, Copeland was winning the battle. Copeland finished the half with 12 points compared to eight for Aiken.

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But in the second half, Aiken came alive, including a stretch in which the rookie had 12 of Harvard’s 15 points over a four-minute period. The scoring came in a combination of step-back jumpers and drives through the paint. Only one of Aiken’s buckets was assisted, while Harvard registered an assist on nine of its other 16 field goal makes.

“He’s a creative shot maker and playmaker and we needed him to do exactly that,” Amaker said.”I thought he did a tremendous job of putting us in position to have an opportunity to pull it out. We wouldn’t have even been close if he wasn’t able to have some heroic shots and big plays that he made for our team.”

Though the Crimson fell short on Saturday, this likely isn’t the last time that Harvard will find itself playing this late in March. While Towns had an off night, freshman forward Chris Lewis stepped up with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting and freshman guard Justin Bassey has been a defensive presence all season.

“I think the potential is very high,” Chambers said. “As you can see, Bryce stepped up again today like he’s done a countless number of times this season. Seth had an off-night but he’ll pick it back up. Our guys, like all the freshmen in the league, are very talented and when they come to maturation down the line in a couple years it’s going to be crazy what their potential is.”

—Staff writer Theresa C. Hebert can be reached at theresa.hebert@thecrimson.com.