CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Bryant struggled in the second half and lost to Harvard, 77-51, Friday night at Lavietes Pavilion.

Bryant (0-4) and Harvard (3-0) went back and forth, trading leads twice, with a trio of ties, through the game’s first four minutes.

A three-point Crimson advantage was cut to one less than five minutes in, when rookie Vlad Kondratyev pulled down the rebound of a Cecil Gresham shot and banked it in, making it 9-8 in Harvard’s favor.

The Bulldogs started to slip midway through the half, falling behind by 17-10 with 12:46 to play before the break. But riding six straight points over the next 1:06, Bryant closed the gap to one and kept it close until late in the half.

With 2:29 to play, a Jeremy Lin 3-pointer boosted Harvard’s lead to eight, and while Gresham cut it back to five after converting his first trey in four tries, Lin hit from long range on the last shot of the half to send the Crimson into the intermission with an eight-point advantage, 35-27.

The Bulldogs shot just under 40 percent for the half, but allowed the Crimson to convert 41.4 percent of their shots from the floor. Success from long range against Bryant continued, as well, as Harvard went 4-for-9 (44.4 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc in the opening 20 minutes.

When the Bulldogs needed a quick start in the second half, they couldn’t do it, and nearly doubled their deficit in the first 4:13 as Harvard outscored Bryant, 10-3, to make it 45-30.

Gresham cut the Crimson’s lead to 13, but Bryant couldn’t get within single digits the rest of the way. The Bulldogs were led by Gresham’s 11 points and game-high eight rebounds, and the team shot 33.9 percent from the field. Senior Chris Birrell of Scituate and freshman Raphael Jordan each handed out three assists.