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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Despite mounting a furious comeback late in the second half to nearly overcome a 20-point deficit, the Northeastern men's basketball team (4-5) wasn't able to cool Harvard's hot hand at Lavietes Pavilion on Tuesday, falling to the Crimson, 86-80. Jeremy Miller spearheaded the comeback with a career-high 26 points, including 20 in the second half.

Harvard (3-4) shot 52 percent from beyond the arc, led by freshman standouts Seth Towns (3-of-5) and Corey Johnson (7-of-10).

After playing catch-up for the majority of the game, the Huskies looked poised to make a full comeback, grinding away until they trailed by four with just under three minutes left in the game. The teams traded points towards the end, however, and Harvard came away with the victory.

Miller's career-high 26 points was also the game-high as he added eight rebounds on 10-of-15 shooting. T.J. Williams finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists, his seventh 20-point game of the season. 

Harvard was led by Towns' 24 points and six rebounds followed by Johnson's 21 points, all coming from deep. 

Alex Murphy kicked off the game with a strong drive to the basket for the left-handed layup just 12 seconds in. After a Harvard 3-pointer on the other end, Devon Begley dished a perfect, no-look pass to Miller on the block, who laid it in and silenced the crowd.

Harvard proceeded to go on a 7-2 run starting at 15:58, before layups by Begley and Miller halted the Crimson's momentum and cut the Huskies' deficit to two.

The Crimson shooters caught on fire again, however, and capped off another scoring run with back-to-back 3-pointers, extending the lead to 25-13 at 8:44.

Free throws by Begley and back-to-back layups by T.J. Williams brought the Huskies back to within 10 points, but the Crimson would ultimately head into halftime with a 40-27 advantage.

Harvard held the edge in first-half 3-pointers, thanks to Johnson, who connected on four of his five shots beyond the arc. Northeastern was able to connect on more shots in the paint, however, scoring 20 points under the net compared to Harvard's eight. Williams, the CAA's leading scorer, led the way on the Huskies' end with eight first-half points.

Northeastern stormed out of the gates in the second half, with a smooth drive-and-dish from Williams to Murphy, forcing Harvard to call an early timeout.

Miller did all he could to cut into the deficit, burying 20 points second half, but Harvard continued control the game, thanks to strong play by the talented first-year trio of Johnson, Towns and Bryce Aiken, who combined for 54 points on the night.

The Huskies launched their nearly-miraculous comeback midway through the stanza, going on a 17-5 run starting at 12:21 and cutting the Crimson's lead to seven, capped off by yet another drive-and-dish by Williams, this time laid in by Miller.

Northeastern continued to inch its way closer, eventually cutting the lead to four at 2:51 off a jumper by Murphy. The teams went back and forth for the final few minutes, but Northeastern couldn't quite overcome the gap, and the Crimson pulled away at the end for the 86-80 victory.

The Huskies continue their six-game road test with a trip to Vermont to face the Catamounts on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 1 p.m.