CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team made a valiant comeback on Saturday night, making up a 17-point deficit early in the second half, but Harvard made the plays down the stretch and pulled out a 74-70 decision at Lavietes Pavilion.
 
Penn was down early in the second half, 45-28, but came all the way back to tie it up at 62-62. At that point the Quakers went cold, going nearly four minutes without a point as Harvard scored seven unanswered. Penn got as close as three in the final seconds, but the Crimson made enough free throws to keep the Red and Blue at bay.
 
Penn fell to 10-16 overall and is now 2-9 in Ivy League play. Harvard improved to 14-10 overall and is 5-6 in Ivy action.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn did a good job of protecting the ball again tonight, committing seven turnovers giving them just 12 for the weekend.
 
*Penn hit 11 three-point shots on Saturday night, giving the Quakers 25 for the weekend.

*Penn lost for the first time this season when shooting a better field-goal percentage (40.0) than its opponent (38.5); previously the Quakers were 8-0 in such games.
 
*Hard to win when your opponent takes 32 foul shots and you shoot nine.
 
*Senior Clark Slajchert led Penn offensively with 21 points, knocking down five three-pointers on the night.
 
*Junior Nick Spinoso had his fifth double-double of the season, dropping 18 points and 11 rebounds and adding three assists.
 
*Freshman Tyler Perkins struggled with foul trouble all night but had a strong night offensively with 17 points, four boards and two assists.
 
*Sophomore Cam Thrower finished the night with 12 points, giving him 28 for the weekend.
 
*Harvard had three players in double figures, led by Justice Ajogbor who went for a double-double (16 pts/13 rbs) on his Senior Night. Chisom Okpara had 20 points to top the Crimson, while Malik Mack added 15 and dished out a game-high five assists.

How It Happened
Harvard opened the scoring with the first five points of the night, but Slajchert hit a patented floater and Thrower dialed long distance to tie things up at 5-5. It was 14-14 when Harvard's Tyler Simon hit treys on back-to-back possessions, the start of a 10-2 run that pushed the Crimson in front 24-16. Another five-point run made it 31-22 late, and then a killer came at the end of the half when Harvard scored the final six points. That gave the Cantabs a 13-point lead at the break, 41-28.
 
Harvard continued the run with the first four points of the second half, but Spinoso hit his second trey of the season—on Penn's third bite at the apple that possession—and then fed Thrower for another triple that got the Quakers within 11 and had Harvard calling timeout.
 
Harvard got its lead back up to 11 when Okpara knocked down a three, making the score 52-41, but Perkins fed Spinoso for a floater along the baseline and then Thrower scored layups on consecutive inbound plays which got Penn within five at the under-12 media timeout 52-47.
 
It was still 57-51 when Spinoso knocked down a foul shot, and then a Slajchert steal at one end turned into a transition trey by Perkins at the other end. That got the Quakers within two, 57-55, at the under-8 media timeout.
 
The Crimson lead was still three, at 62-59, with less than six minutes left when Slajchert missed on a three-pointer. However, the long rebound went to Sam Brown and he kicked it back out to a more open Slajchert for another trey, this time from the right wing. Bang. Tie score, 62-62. Mack and Slajchert then traded foul shots to 64-64 with 5:14 left.
 
Ajogbor was fouled rebounding a Harvard miss on its next possession and made both shots, and then a killer sequence occurred shortly after that. At one end, Slajchert got into the rim but his potential tying layup in traffic rolled off. At the other end, Spinoso poked the ball from Ajogbor, but Mack beat Brown to the loose ball and found an open Louis Lesmond in the right corner. Lesmond is one of Harvard's top marksmen from deep and he was true on this occasion, putting the Crimson up 69-64 with 3:29 to play. After two more empty Penn possessions—Slajchert missing a long floater at the end of the shot clock, Thrower off the mark from deep—Mack hit a turnaround jumper in the lane to make Harvard's lead seven, at 71-64.
 
Spinoso ended a nearly four-minute drought with an and-1 layup and made the free throw to get Penn back within 71-67 with 1:19 left. Harvard struggled to get the ball over the timeline and took a timeout, then missed a chance to up its lead. However, the Quakers missed a great opportunity to get within a possession when Spinoso one-timed Slajchert's alley-oop pass and his shot rolled off. Instead, Penn was forced to foul and Mack hit two freebies to up the lead back to six with 27.3 seconds left.
 
Slajchert was left alone and hit a trey at the top of the arc to make the it a one-possession game with 19.1 seconds left, 73-70. Penn then tried to get a 10-second call, was unsuccessful, and fouled Okpara with 7.2 seconds remaining, He made the first and missed the second, ultimately setting the final score.
 
Up Next
Penn will be home for its final three games this season, starting next weekend when the Quakers host Cornell on Friday and Columbia on Saturday. Both games are doubleheaders with the women's team, with start times being 5 p.m. for the women and 8 p.m. for the men then 4 (women) and 7 (men) on Saturday.
 
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.