B-Ballers Almost Beat Penn

Missed it by that much.

The Harvard men's basketball team (18-14 overall, 4-6 Ivy) nearly pulled off the upset of the Ivy League season on Saturday at Briggs Cage, falling to first-place Penn (19-2 overall, 9-0 Ivy) by only one point, 66-65.

The Crimson actually had a chance to win this tightly-fought battle, too, when it got the ball with 17 seconds left in the game and Penn holding onto a one-point lead.

Captain Tarik Campbell, who had driven under, through and around the Penn defense all night for 14 points, five rebounds and three assists, tried to work his magic one more time on the final shot but could not convert.

"I was trying to get the ball to the basket--that or get fouled," Campbell said. "I wanted to cause something, to make something happen."

The final play, which had been diagrammed by Coach Frank Sullivan during a timeout with two-and-a-half minutes left, was foiled when the designated shooter, sophomore Mike Gilmore, could not slip his defender.

Harvard's failure to complete its stirring comeback from a 34-28 halftime deficit put a damper on the team's best effort of the season.

From the beginning, it was clear that the Crimson players would not back down from their heavily favored opponents, who have not lost an Ivy League game since the 1991-92 season.

"I don't think we played over our heads," Sullivan insisted after the game. "Penn brought us up to their level and we played to our potential."

Harvard sent an early message with three three-pointers in the game's first minutes.

Rather than try to control the tempo and slow down the Quakers quasi track-team offense, the Crimson pushed the ball upcourt aggressively.

"This is what you work for all year long, to play the best team in the league toe-to-toe," Campbell said. "We matched them on both sides of the court."

Crimson Comeback

Indeed, with junior Jared Leake (eight points, five rebounds) and sophomore Mike Gilmore (13 points, career-high nine rebounds) complementing Campbell in the backcourt and sophomore Darren Rankin (14 points, eight rebounds) playing his usual solid game on the front-line, Harvard nearly overtook the impressive Penn team.

The highly-touted junior backcourt of Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen produced for the Quakers when it counted, scoring 16 and 13 points respectively.

Penn senior captain Barry Pierce, the emotional leader of the squad, missed several crucial free throws down the stretch, but also managed to contribute 14 points.

In the end, a Penn team that had been laughing and moving half-heartedly through pre-game warmups was reduced to a relieved bunch that ran off the floor with a new respect for this Harvard squad.

Both teams will lose only one significant contributor next year--the Crimson will say goodbye to Campbell, and the Quakers to Pierce--and the Harvard-Penn match-ups should continue to be interesting.

In a couple of weeks, Harvard's players will finish their season, while Penn's will, in all liklihood, move on to the NCAA Tournament.

But without a doubt, this weekend offers new hope for the future to Harvard fans.

As erstwhile Dodgers fans used to say in Brooklyn: "Wait 'til next year."