Harvard Survives For Season Sweep of Penn

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—Lockdown—that was the first thing that went through freshman Kyle Casey’s mind after he knocked down two of the biggest free throws of his life.

With Casey’s two free throws, the Harvard men’s basketball team was up by a single point with 11.6 seconds left—just one defensive stop away from earning its 21st victory of the season.

And with the help of classmate Brandyn Curry, Casey was able to secure that victory by stopping one of the Ivy League’s most prolific scorers to keep Penn (5-21, 4-8 Ivy) off the scoreboard on its final possession and give the Crimson (21-6, 10-3 Ivy) the win, 67-66.

Quakers guard Zack Rosen—who entered the contest averaging 17.8 points per game—was the most likely candidate to take Penn’s final shot. Rosen received the inbounds pass and sped up the court guarded closely by Curry. As the seconds ticked away, Rosen used a screen at the top of the key in an attempt to get free from Curry.

But the 6’7” Casey switched onto Rosen immediately and forced the lefty sniper to give the ball up to center Mike Howlett on the perimeter with three seconds left. Howlett took two dribbles toward the basket, then let fly a fadeaway jumper from the left elbow that clanged off the back iron.

Co-captain Jeremy Lin knocked the rebound away as the clock expired and Harvard escaped with the victory.

“Brandyn and I had pretty much been guarding the pick and role the whole game together,” Casey said. “We just looked at each other and reinforced each other and said, ‘let’s lockdown, and let’s get this stop.’”

But just moments before Howlett’s shot deflected off the rim, few could have even imagined that Harvard would find itself in a position to win the contest.

After Rosen knocked down a free throw with 2:06 remaining, the Quakers sported a four-point lead on their home floor.

But costly Penn turnovers combined with aggressive defense from Harvard’s freshman class would equal success for the Crimson.

“I was very pleased with our defensive energy late in the game,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “We had to come up with some stops and some steals and create some havoc there at the end to give ourselves a chance.”

After Rosen’s free throw, Lin worked with the ball on the left wing. Drawing the defense’s attention, Lin zipped a pass to Curry, who popped open at the top of the key. The freshman received the pass and in one motion let the shot go. When the ball sailed through the net, the Crimson trailed just 66-65.

Rookie Christian Webster forced Rosen to cough it up on Penn’s next possession, and Webster quickly looked up the court to find Lin streaking to the basket. Webster sent the pass to Lin, who pulled down the ball. After being knocked to the ground by a Penn defender, Lin looked for the foul call but was instead whistled for a travel.

The Quakers would return the ball to Crimson on their next possession, though, when Harvard’s defense forced Jack Eggleston to sail a pass out of bounds with 1:10 left.

Lin then attempted to take the ball to the basket but was stripped entering the paint. Sophomore Keith Wright retained the Harvard possession, diving to the floor to force a jump ball. With the possession arrow facing the Crimson bench, Harvard drew up an inbounds play for Curry. But the point guard was forced to rush his shot with just five seconds left on the shot clock and his layup attempt went off target.

Following Curry’s miss, Penn held onto the ball with the lead and 36 seconds left.

The Crimson would utilize its aggressive defense to force one more turnover, this time courtesy of Howlett, who threw the ball out of bounds trying to find his point guard.

With his team still trailing by one, Lin took the ball again. But this time, Lin found Casey open on the left elbow. Casey faked a shot and then looked for Curry in the corner, but before he could let the pass go, Dan Monckton was whistled for the foul on Casey.

With 11.6 on the clock, Casey coolly sank both shots from the charity stripe, setting up the final defensive stop.

“I just went to the line, did my routine, and knocked them down,” Casey said.

Harvard, which led by as many as nine in the first half, saw its lead dwindle in the minutes before and after the break. Behind 5-of-7 three-point shooting from sophomore Rob Belcore, the Quakers were able to turn a five-point deficit into a one-point lead just over six minutes into the second frame.

“[Belcore] making shots gave us a chance to win the game,” said Penn interim coach Jerome Allen. “Overall offensively we didn’t do a good job of executing and to Rob’s credit, he made some tough shots for us.”

The Penn lead would grow to as many as seven with less than five minutes remaining before Curry and Casey combined for their team’s final 11 points, leading the Crimson on an 11-3 run to claim the victory.

“It was definitely a gutsy win,” Casey said.

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.