CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – In its first action of the 2015-16 season, the MIT men's basketball team made its annual trip up the Charles River to neighboring Harvard University where the Engineers stayed close until a second half surge carried the Crimson to a 59-39 win. Freshman Bradley Jomard (Paris, France) led MIT with 10 points while freshman Tommy McCarthy (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) led Harvard with 12.

A combined 0-for-6 start from the field by both teams prevented any scoring until freshman Corey Johnson (Ottawa, Ontario) hit a three two minutes in for Harvard (1-0). MIT stayed with the Crimson, with Jomard laying one in after a Harvard turnover for the first MIT points. He then hit a pair of free throws four minutes in to put the Engineers on top, 6-5, with MIT extending its lead to four when junior Tim Butala (Monroe, Conn.) drained a three.

Harvard came back to take a four-point lead of its own when junior Corbin Miller (Sandy, Utah) hit a trey seven minutes in. The Crimson eventually built a six-point edge midway through the half when sophomore Chris Egi (Markham, Ontario) hit on a layup off an MIT turnover. The Engineers then received back-to-back buckets from senior Ryan Frankel (New York, N.Y.) and Butala, and eventually closed the game to a point when senior Russell Johnson (New York, N.Y.) laid one in with 7:22 left that brought the Scarlet and Grey within one at 20-19. Harvard then held MIT scoreless the rest of the half, taking a 25-19 lead into the locker room.

Three free throws from freshman Sam Bockman (Oceanside, Calif.) and a Butala layup gave MIT a 5-1 start to the second half, pulling the Engineers to within two at 26-24 two minutes in. McCarthy answered the MIT start with a three-pointer, and it started a 17-4 run over the next four and a half minutes that pushed Harvard out to a 43-28 lead at the 13:31 mark after a Jomard layup. Harvard did not let up, holding MIT scoreless for the next six and a half minutes and taking advantage of five turnovers to build a 52-28 advantage.

Senior Lampros Tsontzos (Amarousion, Greece) ended the MIT scoring drought with a layup at the 7:04 mark, and freshman Adam Jurko (Weston, Fla.) hit back-to-back threes for the Engineers, but the deficit was too big to overcome as Harvard went on to claim the win.

Harvard outshot MIT, 38.5 percent to 29.2 percent and held a 44-33 advantage on the boards. Butala and Jurko both finished with seven points for MIT, with Tsontzos coming off the bench to pull down a team-high seven rebounds. Senior Agunwa Okolie (Ajax, Ontario) added 10 points for Harvard, with senior Evan Cummins (Westborough, Mass.) leading all players with 10 rebounds while also coming up with three blocked shots.

MIT will begin regular season play next week when the Engineers will host Bridgewater State University on Tuesday, November 17 starting at 8:00 p.m.