Penn Blows Out Harvard at the Palestra

PHILADELPHIA—It was cheesesteak night at The Palestra as Penn destroyed Harvard (2-16, 1-4 Ivy) in its Ivy home opener Friday evening, 104-69.

A three-pointer by junior guard Patrick Lang with 1:12 remaining pushed the Quakers (8-8, 1-2) over the century mark in points, triggering a traditional promotion that gives all in attendance a free cheesesteak courtesy of a local sandwich shop.

“It’s certainly a memory and the crowd really gets into it,” Quaker senior guard Jeff Schiffner said. “It was really nice to see Pat Lang…come in and take the opportunity and knock the shot down. It was fun at the end.”

Despite a 31-point halftime lead, Penn refused to back off from its frantic pace as it outscored the Crimson 28-14 over the first 8:45 of the second half for an 83-38 lead.

With 9:21 left in the game, Penn took its second 45-point lead—the biggest lead of the game and the most Harvard had trailed by all season. The Crimson refused to quit, outscoring the Quakers 18-6 over the next 6:30 to pull within 33, 92-59. Harvard’s bench players sparked the run as freshman guard Jim Goffredo chipped in eight points and sophomore forward Luke McCrone added four during that stretch.

“It was certainly good to see Jimmy come in and make a couple baskets,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “The intensity of the game had calmed down a little bit and in situations like that you become more proned to be relaxed because there’s nothing you can do, and the score is going up like telephone numbers. I think Luke did okay…and Goffredo made a couple of baskets. It was encouraging.”

Two three-pointers by sophomore forward Zach Martin in the final 1:39 closed out a strong 45-point second-half effort for the Crimson, yet the Quakers’ robust offense still managed to outscore Harvard in the final frame by four.

Penn was on fire from the opening tip, scoring 31 points in the first 10 minutes of the contest as it grabbed an early 13-point lead. Harvard stuck with the Quakers through the first five minutes, trailing just 15-13 after a trifecta from junior captain Jason Norman.

Penn ran away with the game for the rest of the half on the strength of runs of 11-0, 9-2 and 15-0. In total, the Quakers outscored Harvard 40-11 over the last 14:46 of the first period for a 55-24 halftime lead.

“Any time you can’t get the game in front of you, it’s demoralizing mentally,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “It’s demoralizing when they cash in with three points, but more significantly it continues to frustrate you when you can’t see the half-court game defensively.”

The Quakers’ 55 points were a season-high for a half, while its 49 second-half points were a season-best for the second period. Penn registered season-highs in field goal percentage and three-point shooting percentage—66 and 67, respectively.

“I felt our offense ran pretty smoothly,” Schiffner said. “It was something that we concentrated on a little bit. I felt good shooting it, and I think everyone else felt pretty good shooting it. We were getting good shots. Some nights not all of them are going to fall. Tonight a lot of them fell.”

Schiffner led all scorers with a season-high 24 points, and junior guard Tim Begley contributed 12 points and nine assists for Penn. Freshman Quaker guard Ibby Jaaber came off the bench and registered career-highs in points with 13 and steals with five.

“The Penn legacy guys really took on the challenge after two losses,” Sullivan said. “I think Schiff[ner] was terrific tonight…I think that he took it on [himself] tonight to generate some energy and I think [Begley] did the same thing.”

“I didn’t realize that [Jaaber’s] hands were that good,” Sullivan added. “I think he was really effective dealing with…our point guards in terms of being there [on defense].”

Harvard had four players in double-figures in scoring for the fifth time this season. Norman led the Crimson with 12 points while sophomore forward Matt Stehle chipped in with 11, and Goffredo and junior forward Graham Beatty added 10 a piece. Beatty’s 10 point performance tied a career-high.

Despite being outrebounded 36-27 on the game, the Crimson did manage to glean a 12-8 advantage on the offensive glass. Stehle led all players with five offensive boards and seven rebounds.

“I thought that [Beatty and Stehle] had their legs in the second half in terms of rebounding the basketball a little bit better,” Sullivan said.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.