Dan Clemente, who made an improbable return from a supposedly season-ending eye injury, resumed his role as the Harvard men's basketball team's most prolific scorer this weekend as the Crimson split home contests against Columbia and Cornell.

Harvard (8-11, 3-3 Ivy) played tough against the Big Red (6-12, 0-6) and ended up with a 67-57 win on Friday, but an amazing performance on Saturday against the Lions (9-10, 3-3) wasn't enough for the win.

Columbia 71, Harvard 65

Advertisement

Looking for the sweep Saturday night against Columbia, the Crimson found out how hard it is to win two in a row if you can't hit your two-point shots.

Shooting a dismal 11-of-36 from the field in the second half, and only sinking 4-of-22 from inside the arc, Harvard saw a narrow halftime lead slip away, falling 71-65 to Columbia.

"Our two-point field goal percentage was not what we wanted," Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan said. "Shooting 4-for-22 probably hurt us more than anything tonight. It's frustrating for the players when they can't make the easy and medium-range shots."

Despite Harvard's poor performance in the paint, the three-point shooting of Clemente and captain Damian Long kept the Crimson in the game.

"You've got to stay close on threes," Sullivan said. "The players really feel that way. They don't want to let the other team get an advantage in terms of the number of three-point attempts."