Down 12-2, starting power forward Michael Moshkovitz off the court with two quick fouls and a boisterous sellout Lavietes Pavilion crowd on top of them, things looked bleak for the Penn men as they made it to their bench for the first media timeout in Friday night’s nationally televised game at Harvard.
Fortunately, Steve Donahue settled his team and the Quakers bounced back for an important 78-74 road victory that has the Red & Blue at 5-2 (8-12 overall) halfway through the Ivy League schedule.
Tommy Amaker’s Crimson, meanwhile, left the court with their third loss in five league contests (10-7 overall).
The night started well for Harvard. In addition to welcoming fans back to Lavietes, starting power forward Mason Forbes returned from a knee injury that has kept him out of 15 of the team’s first 17 games of the season. The 6’9″ senior started on fire, getting a slam dunk and layup, while forcing Moshkovitz to the bench in the first three and a half minutes.
Penn stopped the bleeding after the fast Harvard start but still found itself down 12, 28-16, with 10:30 to go in the half. The Quakers finally cut into the Crimson’s lead with a 10-2 run sparked by Lucas Monroe. The 6’6″ junior guard, who entered the game for defensive purposes, started the stretch with back-to-back buckets, including a reverse layup around the larger Forbes.
A steal and pseudo-dunk by fifth-year senior Jelani Williams in the middle of the run brought good nature ribbing from the two Ivy hoops alumni in the virtual broadcast booth, Columbia’s Dalen Cuff and Princeton’s Noah Savage, who understood the caution from a player who has had three ACL surgeries in his career.
Following another Kirkwood bucket, Max Martz scored the next five points for Penn to make it a one-point game with 5:30 remaining in the half. The Quakers would finally go on top, 38-37, 90 seconds later, when Williams drove the lane and hit a one-handed jumper over Forbes.
Penn’s leading scorer Jordan Dingle took it from there, hitting a three from the left elbow and making all four of his free throws, to give Penn a 45-38 lead after the opening 20 minutes.
Despite the rough start, the Red & Blue ended up shooting 78% from two (11-for-14), 42% (5-for-12) from three and 89% (8-for-9) from the line in the opening frame. The Crimson shot well from inside the arc with 71% (12-for-17) accuracy but only made 31% (4-for-13) of their three-pointers and 33% (2-for-6) of their free throws.
On an individual note, Dingle led all scorers with 23 points, making six of seven shots and eight of nine free throws, while Kirkwood paced the home team with 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting.
At the 14:50 mark of the second half, Penn’s Clark Slajchert hit on his now typical running one-handed jumpers to increase the lead to 11, 53-42. Harvard’s Kyle Catchings then went on his own 8-0 run, hitting a left corner triple, a driving layup through the lane and another three from the top of the key to make it a three-point contest.
The Crimson’s Evan Nelson grabbed a loose rebound off a Dingle layup and took it right at Penn’s George Smith. Nelson picked up the bucket and foul, getting an old-fashioned three to tie the game at 53 with 11:30 to go in regulation.
Penn was up 62-61 when the Quakers got four layups to open the lead to nine with just 2:25 left. Moshkovitz played a big part in the run, getting a putback off a Slacjhert miss and an assist to Dingle on a backdoor layup.
With the Red & Blue up 72-63 at the 1:30 mark, the Crimson’s Luka Sakota hit three free throws after being fouled behind the arc by Slajchert. Sam Silverstein then beat Martz on the left side of the lane for a layup and Kirkwood hit one of two free throws to make it 72-69 with 19 seconds remaining.
Slajchert was fouled by Nelson after the inbounds and sank both free throws to make it a five-point game. Sakota then hit a deep three near the right elbow to make it 74-72 with 10 seconds left.
After Martz hit two free throws, the Quakers forced a loose ball off the Crimson’s inbounds. Sakota came up with the ball and was fouled by Smith, his fifth of the night. Sakota hit both shots, his sixth and seventh straight made free throws of the half, to cut the lead to two.
Martz was fouled by Silverstein, his second and the team’s tenth, sending Martz to the line for two more shots. The sophomore from Upper Arlington, Ohio sank both, leaving Harvard down four with seconds to go. Sakota attempted another deep three but this one missed. The game was over.
Both teams shot well from two, with Penn making 55% (12-for-22) and Harvard hitting 60% (9-for-15). Three-pointers were a different story, with the Crimson making 20% (3-for-15) and the Quakers missing all 11 of their attempts. The big difference was at the free throw line, where the visitors made 82% (9-for-11) and the visitors only shot 64% (9-for-14).
In a in which where the statistical numbers were fairly even, the biggest difference ended up being the charity stripe. The Quakers ended up making 17 of 20 (85%), while the Crimson could only sink 11 of 20 (55%).
Dingle ended the night with a game-high 31 points, while Martz finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Despite playing only five minutes in the first half due to his foul trouble, Moshkovitz added six points, nine rebounds (five offensive) and the one assist in the second half.
Kirkwood finished with 27 points in the losing cause, hitting 11 of 12 two-pointers, but only converting one of seven three-point attempts and two of five free throws. Sakota ended with 18 points and Catchings totaled 10. Forbes, making his first start of 2021-22, had six points and three rebounds in a season-high 22 minutes.
Unfortunately for Harvard, Chris Ledlum, the Ivy League’s leading rebounder and fourth-leading scorer, was out of action for the fourth consecutive game.
The Quakers, who remain in third place in the Ivy League standings, continue their road trip with visits to Cornell and Columbia next weekend. The Crimson, who are presently tied for fourth with the Big Red, will also be on the road next weekend with games at Brown and Yale. Harvard will then have a rematch with the Bulldogs at Lavietes Pavilion on Wednesday the 9th before meeting Penn for round two on Saturday the 12th.