Crimson Pipped by Penn in Final Minutes

In a gut-wrenching, back-and-forth game at Lavietes Pavilion Friday night, the Harvard men’s basketball team came out on the short end, as the University of Pennsylvania made the clutch plays down the stretch and got the bounces it needed to win 66-60.

Tight throughout a second half that saw three ties and six lead changes, the Quakers (5-10, 1-0 Ivy) took the lead in the final two minutes and held on to it to give the Crimson (9-7, 1-2 Ivy) its second-straight home Ivy loss. Harvard got 14 points and six boards from junior forward Doug Miller and 13 from junior guard Jeremy Lin, but the team was killed by abysmal free throw shooting, hitting just 7-of-16 attempts, including missing the front ends of four one-and-one chances. This came on the heels of a poor game from the foul line in an overtime loss last Saturday to Dartmouth in which the team made just 17-of-27 free throws, including the front ends of several one-and-ones near the end of regulation.

“We just didn’t make foul shots,” Crimson coach Tommy Amaker said. “We’ve been one and two in our conference in free throw shooting as a team throughout the season and for whatever reason, things can become very contagious.”

Sophomore forward Jack Eggleston had a game-high 19 points for the visitors and freshman guard Zach Rosen had 15 and nine assists as their team took a huge game between teams hoping for the Ivy League crown.

With the game knotted up 56-56, Rosen faked and drove to the hoop to draw a foul from Lin. Rosen hit both shots and on the other side, his counterpart, freshman guard Oliver McNally had a tough jumper barely rim out, which Penn forward Cameron Lewis tied up for a jump-ball with the possession arrow to his team.

After a time out, the Quakers ran a perfect play as soon after the ball was passed in, Rosen found a wide-open Eggleston for an easy dunk and a 60-56 lead with 1:07. Tough defense on the other end gave the Crimson no chance to score until Lin found Miller for a lay-up with 38.4 seconds to play.

Rosen was fouled with 34 ticks left and knocked down both ends of his one-and-one. Lin then made his first two free throws of the game, before Rosen went back to the line and Penn’s karma took over.

Shooting one-and-one again, the freshman missed the front end, but the ball bounced into the corner near the Penn bench and Eggleston beat Miller to it and called time. Sophomore guard Tyler Bernardini caught the inbounds pass but was gang-corralled and forced to use his team’s last timeout with 22 seconds left.

When the ball came in again, it was batted around several times before Quaker guard Kevin Egee found it along with a straight pass to the basket. Lin fouled him intentionally with 17 seconds left and Egee hit both shots as his team toughed out a wild win.

“We group it all together in toughness—finishing free throws, getting loose balls, blocking out at the free throw line,” Miller said. “For us, it’s all the same. We feel like they were tougher than us today.”

The game began with a wild and sloppy first half. Penn jumped out to a 12-6 lead five minutes in as it constantly beat the Crimson up the floor for baskets. Harvard answered that with a 12-0 run in which it forced four turnovers and watched Eggleston blow an easy two-hand dunk attempt. But the Quakers stayed strong and after Lin missed a lay-up with his team up 27-21 and under three minutes left, they closed out with a 10-0 run, despite another missed dunk, this time by Lewis.

McNally and captain guard Andrew Pusar each missed the front-ends of one-and ones in that stretch as the team made just 1-of-6 attempts in the first half. It also turned the ball over 13 times, which would look worse if the visitors hadn’t gone one further, committing 14 turnovers in the first 20 minutes. In the second half, however, Penn turned it over only twice, compared to six for Harvard, helping the visitors overcome their 44.4 shooting percentage in the game.

“We had a lot of energy in the first half and the turnovers forced were from the energy we brought,” Miller said. “Our energy went down a lot in the second half. That’s something the veterans have to do to keep it going with the team make sure we do so we can win this Ivy League.”