"Clearly the issue for us was our inability to score points," Sullivan said. "We really didn't shoot the ball well. The poor shooting was contagious."

Brown 90, Harvard 82

Friday's matchup between the Ivy League's two top-rated offenses could resulted in a high-scoring game, but gly and streaky play on both sides left observers wondering if either squad could hang on to the ball long enough to put the game away.

In the end, the most important statistic may have been that the Bears turned the ball over less (16 turnovers to the Crimson's 22), leading to their eight-point win over Harvard at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

Brown started the game on fire, as guard Omari Ware scored seven straight points in the first 3:30 and helped the Bears build an early 12-2 lead. Those seven points would be Ware's only seven for the half, however, and the Crimson used an 8-0 run late in the half to pull to within two and finish the half down only 35-28.

The numbers in the first half were mostly in Brown's favor. While both teams uncharacteristically failed to hit a three-pointer (a combined 0-of-14), the Bears' powerful inside combo of Shaun Etheridge and Alai Nuualiitia helped Brown gain a 24-15 rebounding advantage, including nine offensive boards. With those rebounds, the Bears held a 9-0 edge in second-chance points.

"We were running uphill all night with rebounding," Sullivan said.

The Crimson came out stronger offensively in the second half and pulled to within 44-43 on a Sigafoos layup four minutes in. For the next three minutes, however, Brown's star guard, Earl Hunt, who torched Harvard for 39 points in last year's contest in Providence, came alive and led the Bears on a 12-3 run that put them up by 10 points.