CRIMSON LIVE: Men's Basketball vs. Penn

Final Score: Harvard 89, Penn 79

[:00] Time expires on Penn's attempt at a run. That'll do it from Lavietes, in Harvard's first sweep of Penn and Princeton since 1987! Unger and Harris were huge in the post tonight. Lin played a great second half. I haven't seen stats, but I wouldn't be surprised if all of those players had 20 apiece tonight. Great weekend for the Crimson, after an abysmal five-game stretch before this.

[:10] Just when I spoke, Gaines drives again and scores this time, getting fouled again. He's only a freshman, but he's going to be a great player in this league someday. Housman nails two more free throws, and all that's left is for Gaines to drive and score again... and he does! Then, he steals it and passes off to a teammate this time, who lays it in. Harvard 89, Penn 79

[:43] Two Lin free throws, and now Penn can't convert. Another nice drive by Gaines, but he misses the jumper this time. Then, two more free throws by Unger and Harvard's got this game. Harvard 87, Penn 72

[1:14] Housman's two free throws are followed by two from Fitzgerald, and a 1 of 2 effort from Lin as Penn has resorted to fouling every time Harvard touches the ball. Fortunately, they've scored a few times, on two pretty drives by Harrison Gaines. Two more free throws from McGeary make it Harvard 83, Penn 70

2:39] Penn's Bernardini hits a HUGE three in front of the Quaker bench to make it an 8-point game. Then, calm, cool, and collected, Housman drives the lane after the shot-clock runs down and finds Fitzgerald, who fakes up, then scores over his man in the post. A Lin steal on the other end gives Harvard the ball back, and now Housman is fouled and will shoot two FT's after the media timeout. Harvard 76, Penn 66

[4:04] Just when it was getting safe, Penn's Bernardini sinks two free throws, then another offensive rebound burns Harvard. This time, It's Andreas Schreiber with the tip in put-back, and he's fouled. He sinks the FT. Then, McGeary called for the illegal dribble. Amaker calls a timeout to calm everyone down. Harvard 74, Penn 63

[4:55] Flurry of action here now. Both teams are scoring pretty easily. Penn's Grandieri has another offensive rebound putback and another layup on a pretty pass into the post. But, Harvard counters with a McGeary three, following a pretty Lin leaner as the shot clock dwindled low and two Housman free throws. Harvard 74, Penn 58.

[6:50] Penn's Kevin Egge has a pretty move. He drives down the right baseline, in the air moves the ball to his left hand and converts, despite being fouled by Drew Housman. He hits the free throw to convert the three-point play. This followed a short jumper by Penn's Andreas Schreiber. It ain't over yet. Harvard 67, Penn 54

[7:44] Harvard's taking their time, running down the clock. Last possession, Lin missed a jumper from the key following a Bernardini jumper. Grandieri now to the line for two; he misses the first, and hits the second. Harvard 67, Penn 49

My Mac apparently feels its a PC as it once again runs out of battery life. Don't miss me too much folks as Kevin comes in like a 9th inning closer to wrap this blog up.

[8:51] Bernardini showing his class with the mid-range jumper, despite some good defense and a hand in his face. [Harvard 67, Penn 46]

[9:18] Housman, with time winding down on the shot clock, cuts into the lane, draws three defenders and kicks it out to Harris. Harris clinically finishes. [Harvard 67, Penn 44]

[10:50] Fitzgerald makes up for his mistake earlier, as he picks up the board and lays it in after Housman gets rejected. Timeout called. [Harvard 63, Penn 44]

[11:26] Beautiful back door cut by McGeary, Housman finds him quickly and McGeary follows up with the reverse lay in. Good action here tonight. [Harvard 61, Penn 44]

[12:13] Bernardini still alive. He enters the game, gets fouled, and makes both FTs. His first points since the first minute of the game. [Harvard 59, Penn 44]

[12:57] Fitzgerald displays his butterfingers after a nice cutting pass from Lin. The turnover leads to a Penn basket on the other end. [Harvard 59, Penn 42]

[13:23] With a hand in his face, Jeremy Lin still remains lethal from mid-range. He sinks another jumper as the Crimson lead climbs back up to 19. [Harvard 59, Penn 40]

[14:13] Pusar with another offensive board+put back combination. His third of the night. [Harvard 57, Penn 38]

[14:50] Jeremy Lin knocks down a three point bomb to give Harvard a 20 point lead. [Harvard 55, Penn 35]

[16:12] Unger drops another three. Like manna from the heavens folks, Unger is lighting up the Quakers from downtown. [Harvard 52, Penn 33]

[17:55] Housman with his second consecutive board on defense. He's up to seven for the night. On offense, Harris just tried to pull a Dwight Howard Superman Dunk. Didn't get quite the same result as he crashes to the floor. Good effort though.

[18:39] Jeremy Lin with a FANTASTIC finish. Drives into the lane and pulls a LeBron-esque move to the rim for the basket. [Harvard 49, Penn 28]

[18:59] Bernardini quickly picks up his third foul and goes crawling back to the bench. Rough night for the Penn star.

[19:41] Jeremy Lin gets the action going with a mid-range jumper. Harvard picking up right where it left off. [Harvard 47, Penn 28]

Halftime Stats
- Harvard currently holding a 2 to 1 scoring advantage in the paint (24 to 12)
- Unger and Harris have matched their point total from last night.....in one half of play. (16 and 14 respectively)
- Harris remains perfect on all his shots (FGs, FTs, you name it)
- Penn's Grandieri leads his team with 12. The next closest guy has 5.
- Harvard shooting at a clip of 59%. Penn.....33%.
- Harvard is also dominating in number of FTs. Harvard has had 11 (making 10). Penn's had two (And missed one).
- Jeremy Lin already up to three steals.
- The talented Tyler Bernardini has been held to 1 of 5 shooting and two personal fouls. He's only played six minutes because of foul trouble.

HALFTIME SCORE: Harvard 45, Pennsylvania 28.

[:00] Penn gets the ball back but does absolutely nothing with it. Again, the lack of quality shooting is burning into offensive options. Housman gets the ball with two seconds left and puts up a half-court prayer.....he just narrowly misses it off the backboard.

[:15] The run ends with a three by Penn's Jack Eggleston. On offense, Harris steps up the hustle with a long offensive board. Shot clock reset, Harvard calmly running its offense but fails to make a basket. [Harvard 45, Penn 28]

[1:31] Everything is going in for Harris this weekend. Another basket by the big man. On defense, Lin is showing vacuum like abilities in the passing lanes. Another steal by Lin leads to another Unger basket in the paint. Harvard on an 11-0 run right now. [Harvard 45, Penn 25]

Penn really struggling on offense without any shooters on the floor. Bernardini has been sitting for over ten minutes with two fouls.

[3:05] Block by Harris after the sneaky backdoor pass by Penn. Housman slows the game down and is running the offense, Harris calling for the ball, passes to Housman, ball goes back into the paint for Pusar, and Pusar obliges with the basket. [Harvard 41, Penn 25]

[4:36] The cold shooting continues for the Quakers. Back on offense, there's still no answer for the juggernaut known as Unger. Unger fouled once again, makes one of two from the line. [Harvard 39, Penn 25]

[4:46] Steal by Lin, he drives it down the court and does all the work himself for the layup. [Harvard 38, Penn 25]

[5:21] Good ball movement on the perimeter by the Crimson. Lin feeds the ball into Unger as he sneakily goes baseline. He doesn't get the basket but he gets fouled on his way up. Unger makes both FT. [Harvard 36, Penn 25]

[6:17] Harvard pushes the lead to double digits off the heels of another Brad Unger three pointer. Penn call a timeout. I don't know what's gotten into the water here at Cambridge, but this is a completely different Crimson squad than the one I've been following all year. [Harvard 34, Penn 23]

[6:41] Nice moves displayed by Harris in the paint. Hesitant at first, Harris backs down his man, fakes to the right, and spins left for the finger roll. It's been a good weekend for Harris, he only has one miss from the floor in two nights of action. [Harvard 31, Penn 23]

[7:16] Harris smoothly drains another FT. On the other end, McGeary finds himself in a dogfight for the loose ball. He seemingly comes away with the ball cleanly but the ref calls him out for traveling. On the reset, Penn's Justin Reilly gets fouled going for a shot. Shooting two FT, Reilly makes 1 of 2. [Harvard 29, Penn 23]

[7:46] Fitzgerald puts up some weak sauce on offense, as he attempts the soft-handed layup. Penn flies back down the court for the basket. Harvard continues the frenetic pace and pushes the ball up court, Harris gets it in the paint, dropping another deuce on the Quakers while getting fouled. FT coming up. Timeout called. [Harvard 28, Penn 22]

[8:45] Unger is a man among boys out there. He aggressively goes up in the paint, gets the basket, AND ONE. Six straight from the big man. [Harvard 26, Penn 20]

[9:32] Harvard giving up easy baskets on the inside. Penn's Brennan Votel (who?) gets the easy layup. However, Harvard counter on offense with a huge three from Unger. [Harvard 23, Penn 20]

[10:12] Following a basket by Penn's Andreas Schreiber, Penn pick up ANOTHER foul. Harvard's now in the bonus. Harris with the one-and-one opportunity. Makes the first, obviously. Drains the second as well. Still flawless from the line (He was 4 of 4 last night). [Harvard 20, Penn 16]

[10:58] Offensive board by the Crimson leads to an Unger basket. On the other end, Penn picks up two consecutive offensive boards, can't seem to put it in the hoop though and they call a timeout. Offensive boards are killing both teams right now. First one to correct this flaw will get the early advantage. [Harvard 18, Penn 14]

[11:35] Grandieri having a heck of a game. He goes up for the floater, the ball gets slightly knocked out of his hand by Harris, but he recovers and shoots it off the backboard for the basket. [Harvard 16, Penn 14]

[11:57] Harris shooting two from the line. Makes both FT. I don't think I've seen Harris miss one from the line all weekend. Pretty impressive for a big man. [Harvard 16, Penn 12]

[11:57] Harrison Gaines hits a three for Penn, lead down to two for Crimson. Back the other way, Penn picks up another team foul, now up to six for the night. Media timeout. Time for this writer to munch on some cold pizza.

[12:45] Grandieri picks up his second foul and gets relegated to the bench. Let's see if the Crimson can capitalized on Penn's foul trouble (Five team fouls). Lin inbounds to Housman, the Crimson shifting the ball around the perimeter, Unger feeds it into Harris for the pick-and-roll basket. Harvard once again playing well down low. [Harvard 14, Penn 9]

[13:53] Grandieri coming up big once again in the paint. Following the missed jumper, Grandieri flies over Harris for the offensive board, takes a dribble, and goes right back up for the put back. Timeout, Harvard. [Harvard 12, Penn 9.]

[14:42] Lin with a huge block on the defensive end but Penn get the ball right back. The Quakers' Brian Grandieri gets the loose ball and puts in the easy layup. Harvard 12, Penn 7.

[15:25] Another miss by Penn, Bernardini with the wayward jumper. The Quakers are cold from the floor right now, but still down by only five. The Crimson, setting up on offense, Lin inbounds to Housman, back to Lin, Lin gets rejected but Unger picks up the trash and calmly puts it in the net. Harvard 12, Penn 5.

[15:33] Timeout, Penn. Lively crowd here tonight folks. We've got both bands here tonight, the Quaker mascot, and cheerleaders from each school. Also a packed house. Winning seems to bring out the best from fair-weather fans. Either way, the team seems to be relishing the friendly atmosphere tonight.

[16:13] On the court for the Crimson: Housman, Unger, Lin, McGeary, and Fitzgerald. The rookie Fitz is seeing some big minutes this weekend. Jeremy Lin, playing with a chip on his shoulder throughout the weekend, relentlessly tears down the lane and drops a floater on Penn's big men. Harvard definitely playing with some fire up the 'arse' right now. Harvard 10, Penn 5.

[17:17] It seems Harvard is carrying the same momentum it displayed in the last 5 minutes of yesterday's game over to tonight. Harris drives it down the line, gets hacked on the arm, but still makes the basket. He nails the FT to push the lead up to five. Harvard 8, Penn 3.

[18:01] After a Housman bucket, Lin continues his hot streak from last night and drains the three to put Harvard up by two. Harvard 5, Penn 3.

[19:46] Right out of the gates, Penn's star Tyler Bernardini gets the scoreboard going with a three pointer. Penn 3, Harvard 0.

If Harvard is victorious tonight, it will mark the first time since the 1987 season that the Crimson successfully sweep both Princeton and Penn at home. History on the line here tonight, let's get it on!

Welcome to our second night of live coverage here at Lavietes as the Harvard Crimson take on the Penn Quakers. Last night featured an incredible comeback by the home team, let's see if tonight's action can keep the good times rolling for the men of Cambridge.


                                                                                    - MAURICIO A. CRUZ