After that loss to Princeton in which he’d scored 22, Merchant, who never once beat the Tigers, still refused to concede anything. He made the next generation of Crimson men’s basketball vow to end the team’s futility streak against the Orange Menace.

With that, a season that started with promise ended with one, too.

“I made some of the sophomores and freshmen promise me after the game that they’d beat these guys,” Merchant said at the time. “We’ve come awfully close a couple times and losses like this just hurt.”

In fact, a lot about this men’s basketball season hurt. But to their credit, even as the heartache became inevitable, Merchant and his classmates never let themselves go numb.

—Staff writer Brian E. Fallon can be reached at bfallon@post.harvard.edu.

M. BASKETBALL

RECORD 12-15 (4-10 Ivy, T-5th)

COACH Frank Sullivan

CAPTAIN Brady Merchant

HIGHLIGHTS Senior Elliott Prasse-Freeman becomes all-time Ivy assist leader. Leading scorer Pat Harvey leaves team midway through season due to academic issues. Merchant sets school record with 45 points in season finale and earns second-team All-Ivy honors.