Men’s Basketball Rides Hot Start to Huge Home Win

Coming off two straight losses for the first time this season, Harvard needed to change its luck.

Crimson coach Tommy Amaker put three new players into the starting lineup, and the move paid big dividends, with all three making contributions as Harvard (15-5, 4-2 Ivy) defeated Penn (3-15, 2-2 Ivy), 80-66, at Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday night.

“[Coach Amaker] said [that] to get back to where we were and what we do, it starts on defense,” said freshman forward Kyle Casey, who started for the second time this season.

Rookie Brandyn Curry—for the first time in his career—and sophomore Max Kenyi—for the first time since his knee injury in November—joined Casey in the starting lineup along with co-captain regulars Jeremy Lin and Doug Miller. The young trio scored the Crimson’s first 10 points, and Harvard jumped out to a 12-2 lead.

“We came out on fire,” Casey said. “A lot of intensity, a lot of passion. We locked them up early and got out to a good lead.”

Casey, a two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week, scored 13 points on the night in addition to grabbing six rebounds. Fellow freshman Curry scored nine points, directing the offense while guarding Quaker point guard Zack Rosen.

“I was very pleased with their play,” said Amaker of Casey, Curry, and Kenyi.

“Look at Brandyn Curry’s line,” he said. “Six assists, one turnover, three steals. And he’s guarding arguably the kid that’s…in the running for conference Player of the Year in Rosen.”

Kenyi, coming off a knee injury that sidelined him for twelve games, had his finest game of the season, leading the team with seven rebounds and adding nine points.

But despite the Crimson’s hot start, the Quakers managed to hang in the game. Trailing 37-22, Penn forwards Jack Eggleston and Dan Monckton combined for three free-throws and then, with three minutes remaining in the first half, Monckton hit a three-pointer from the left corner to cut the lead to nine.

Harvard pushed its advantage to double digits again, but a pull-up jumper from Quaker guard Rob Belacore from the left elbow at the buzzer made it 41-32 at halftime.

Up to that point, Penn had done a good job containing Cousy Award finalist Lin, holding him to 0-of-6 shooting and forcing three turnovers. But in the second half, the senior was more assertive.

Six minutes into the period, Lin took the ball from the top of the key and drove hard down the middle of the lane for an uncontested lay-up. A little over two minutes later, the senior knocked down a three-pointer for the right corner, and in the ensuing possession, he drove and dished to Miller for an easy two. The stretch was part of a run that pushed Harvard’s lead to 17 points midway through the half.

Penn answered with an 11-0 run of its own, highlighted by a thunderous dunk in traffic by Eggleston.

“You give them a lot of credit for how hard they played—fighting back, being down by a lot, getting back in,” Amaker said.

The Quakers cut the lead to six points with five minutes remaining, but freshman Christian Webster hit a three from the right wing to give the Crimson some breathing room.

Sophomore guard Oliver McNally followed with two threes in the next two minutes to ice the game. McNally, who came off the bench for the first time this season, went 4-of-5 from deep and finished with 14 points.

“Coach wanted to go with something different, so I just have to fill whatever role he gives me,” McNally said. “I [came off the bench] all last year, so I know how to do it.”

The win came in front of another sellout crowd, the fourth in five games at Lavietes.

“A lot of us had that in high school, coming from good programs,” McNally said. “Last year [the fan support] was kind of there, starting to build, but it’s really shown [this year] that all the students are coming out and really get into it—it means a lot.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at tjwalsh@fas.harvard.edu.