Runs—albeit slow ones—by both teams would characterize much of the second half. Harvard extended the lead out of the break, Yale made it interesting, Harvard did enough to keep the hosts at arm's length before the Bulldogs finally took their first lead with 5:11 to play and set the stage for the home stretch.

“I think when we play defense as a team, we are really hard to stop when everybody’s locked in, when everybody is doing their role on each individual player we are matched up with, we are a very hard team to score on, honestly, and now we are very confident off of that when we play together,” Johnson said.

After not scoring in the final 4:44 of the first half, the Crimson regained its footing to start the second. The guests went on a 10-3 run to begin the frame, capped off by a Towns triple to get the lead back to double digits. As desperation set in for the hosts, Oni began taking things into his own hands in an attempt to get Yale back in the contest.

A 6-0 run for the Bulldogs made it a game once again. Although free throws would ultimately win the game for Harvard, the Crimson did not take its first attempts from the charity stripe until 10:38 remained in the contest. The pair from Lewis ended the run for Yale but did little to stop the onslaught from the Bulldogs or stimulate offense from Harvard. Yale would go on a 13-4 run over the next 5:27 to take the two-point lead that was Yale's only advantage of the contest.

Midway through that run, Towns, Johnson, sophomore forward Henry Welsh, and sophomore guard Bryce Aiken checked back in for the Crimson in an attempt to stop the bleeding. A major question entering the game was Aiken's health. The sophomore had last seen game action against Dartmouth on Jan. 6 and had only played four minutes against the Big Green. Aiken, who had some of his best games of his freshman campaign against the Bulldogs, went just 1-of-5 from the field in 13 minutes and was replaced by fellow sophomore Christian Juzang down the stretch. While Harvard lacked its closer in the game’s final minutes, Lewis' strong all-around performance and the team's defensive masterpiece proved to be enough to keep Harvard unbeaten in league play.

"When we have good balance, we really have a good basketball team," Amaker said. "I thought our defense was outstanding. They come at you in waves and have some offensive players. [Our defense] certainly allowed us to play a little bit better than we have played recently."

—Staff writer Stephen J. Gleason can be reached at stephen.gleason@thecrimson.com.