Men's Basketball Coasts Past Penn at the Palestra

PHILADELPHIA, PA— In its two games against Penn last year, the Harvard men’s basketball team notched two victories by a combined 50-point margin.

In 2015, the story appears stuck on the same script.

With its 63-38 victory at the Palestra Saturday night, the Crimson (13-5, 3-1 Ivy) notched its fourth win against the Quakers (6-11, 1-2) in five tries and third consecutive victory by 20 or more points over Penn. Harvard led by 30 or more for most of the second half, shooting 49 percent from the field and outrebounding the Quakers, 37-25.

The Crimson swept the Princeton-Penn road trip for the second year in a row after not having done so for 29 years. Harvard has won 10 consecutive Ancient Eight road games since losing at Penn two years ago.

“I thought we really played a tremendous 40 minutes of basketball,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “I was impressed and pleased with the effort our kids brought on the defensive end. I thought we played disciplined defense, which is what we need to do on the road, and were efficient on the offensive end.”

Throughout the game, the Crimson suffocated the Quakers on the defensive end. Penn finished the game with more turnovers (14) than made field goals (13), connecting on just 30 percent of its shots. But Harvard’s offense also struggled early before co-captain Steve Moundou-Missi hit the bench after committing his second foul with 6:25 left in the half.

Spreading the floor around senior forward Jonah Travis, the Crimson went with the four-out lineup with which it found success Friday night against Princeton. Harvard finished the first half on a 16-5 run, with junior point guard Siyani Chambers nailing a three-pointer as the clock wound down.

For the game, Chambers led all scorers with 14 points—12 of which came in the first half. He and senior wing Wesley Saunders combined for eight assists and just one turnover on the game, keeping the Crimson’s offense moving and breaking down the Penn zone time and time again.

“[Turnovers] are probably the first thing,” Chambers said. “The coaching staff and my teammates are relying on me as the point guard to make good decisions with the ball.”

On the defensive end, Saunders helped corral the Quakers’ leading guard Tony Hicks into a two-for-eight shooting night and just six points. Hicks, freshman Antonio Woods, and junior Darien Nelson-Henry—arguably Penn’s three most important players—had just five made field goals between them.

A late scoring burst kept the Quakers from being held under 20 points in both halves; as it was, Harvard’s defense rebounded from giving up 72 to Princeton to tie its season best in points allowed. Although the Crimson benefited from a series of Penn turnovers, it also kept the Quakers off the offensive boards all game. Harvard won the rebounding battle by 12 and Travis had almost as many offensive rebounds (five) by himself as Penn had in the game (six).

For the second straight night, the senior big man provided the jolt his team needed with eight points, 10 rebounds, and two steals. Despite giving up size to both Nelson-Henry and Penn forward Greg Louis, Travis routinely went up and around the Quaker big men for rebound after rebound.

“I love playing with Jonah,” Moundou-Missi said. “He brings that energy and has that fight in him. He plays hard every single possession and you have to love that about him.”

The team once again got unexpected offensive production from junior wing Agunwa Okolie. After averaging a hair over five points a game coming into the weekend, Okolie posted back-to-back double-digit efforts for the first time in his career. He knocked down four of the five shots he took from the field, cutting into the teeth of the Quaker defense for a series of dunks and layups.

—Staff writer David Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com.