The Crimson picked off a pass on the second Northeastern possession and went inside to Clemente, who converted a layup. A few seconds later, Prasse-Freeman set up a three-point shot for Harvey, who drained the open look. After tip-ins by Clemente and sophomore center Onnie Mayshak and several more three-pointers, the Crimson found itself up 14 points and on the verge of walking away with the game.

"We basically addressed the issue of defense," Sullivan said. "We couldn't have Northeastern shooting 50 percent from the floor."

Once the Crimson established the lead, Northeastern found it impossible to come within more than 10 points. The Huskies continued the abysmal rebounding, and Cranford went cold, scoring only two points the entire second half.

Meanwhile, Harvard's offense gained momentum. Clemente played almost the entire second half, stayed out of foul trouble and picked up 20 of his 24 points. He hit all three of his three-point attempts in the second half and finished with seven rebounds.

"I just got that rhythm," Clemente said. "Once a couple go down early, it gets easier."

Clemente also had plenty of offensive help from his teammates. Harvey lit it up in the second half, overcoming some early mistakes to finish with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-5 from three point land. In addition to sharp shooting from behind the arc, the Crimson also made 13 of its 14 second-half free throws, negating Northeastern attempts to slow the game down and creep back in contention.

Harvard's big men also neutralized the threat created by the Huskies' 6'10 center George Aygar. After a first-half interior defense that Prasse-Freeman described as "porous", Mayshak, sophomore forward Sam Winter and even 10th man Brian Sigafoos, a 6'10 JV call-up, got tough and won the battle of the paint. Harvard scored more points in the paint than Northeastern (20-14), and also limited the Huskies to four second-chance points.

Prasse-Freeman's 15 assists tied the record he set last February against Yale. Unlike the point guard's performance against the Bulldogs last season, however, last night he became the leader and the focus of the team when others faltered, and his assists were coupled with only three turnovers.