CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team battled Harvard right to the final buzzer on Monday but dropped a 64-63 decision to the Crimson at Lavietes Pavilion.
 
This game was tied, 54-54, with three minutes left but the host Crimson went to a one-on-one game and found success, scoring on five straight possessions to go up 64-59. The Quakers were able to get within one and had a shot to win it when Harvard missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for the second time in the final seconds, but it was a long desperation heave that was well short.
 
Penn fell to 2-2 in league play—the losses coming by a combined three points—and is now 9-8 overall. Harvard remains in a tie for first place at 3-1 and is 10-8 overall.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Senior Ethan Roberts led the scoring brigade with a game-high 27 points, giving him 99 in four Ivy League games so far (24.7 ppg); he was an efficient 9-15 from the field, hit three of his seven trey attempts, and went a perfect 6-6 at the foul line.
 
*Sophomore AJ Levine stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, a game-high eight rebounds—a season high and one shy of his career best—four assists (against just one turnover) and four steals.
 
*Junior TJ Power had a strong second half for the second straight game, scoring 10 of his 12 points after the break. He also had four rebounds.
 
*Junior Augustus Gerhart grabbed seven rebounds on Monday, with five of them coming on the offensive glass.
 
*Harvard got 17 points each from Tey Barbour and Thomas Batties II, who also had six rebounds and three blocked shots. Robert Hinton finished with 11 points, five boards, four assists and three steals.
 
How It Happened
Roberts scored eight in a row for Penn early, pushing the Red and Blue out to a 10-4 lead, but things stagnated at that point and the team went more than five minutes without a field goal. Harvard took advantage, going on an 11-1 run and then answering a Roberts bucket with six more in a row. Overall it was a 17-3 run that left the hosts in front, 21-13.
 
Cam Thrower ended the skid with a three-pointer, and that set the Quakers on a 9-0 run that turned the eight-point deficit into a one-point lead at 22-21. The advantage got to three when Power hit an elbow jumper with 3:01 left, but again Penn went quiet and Harvard scored the last eight points in the period to take a 31-26 lead to the locker room.
 
Penn then need another 2:01 to score in second half, the 5:02 skid finally ending when Levine stole the ball and pushed it to Gerhart, who found a streaking Roberts for an easy layup. That ended an 11-0 Harvard run bridging the halves.
 
The Crimson went quiet shortly after that, however, and this time Penn took advantage with an 8-0 run spanning four minutes. That tied the game at 36-36, and shortly after that Power and Levine answered a Dutch Dowdell triple with back-to-back buckets to give Penn its first lead of the period.
 
The mini-game from the under-12 to the under-8 timeout had three ties and two lead changes, and with 6:05 left the game was tied 46-46. Hinton resoundingly broke the tie, throwing down a massive dunk while being fouled, but Power buried a triple at the other end, then Levine answered another Harvard basket with a drive from the left baseline that ended with him hitting a layup while being fouled. He missed the free throw that would have given Penn the lead.
 
Batties hit a triple to put Harvard up, 54-51, but Levine went 3-4 from the charity stripe over Penn's next two trips down the court to tie things at 54-54 with 3:21 to play.
 
That's when Harvard found the formula.
 
First Batties drove for a bucket and a 56-54 lead. Penn turned it over, and Pigge drove and drew a second defender. He found Ryan Sullivan wide open under the basket for the stuff. Roberts got open on the left wing and cashed a Power feed to make it 58-57 with 1:57 to play, but Hinton was next to beat his man off the dribble with 1:24 left.
 
Harvard took timeout after that bucket, and out of stoppage Levine took his man to the rim and put up a layup. Batties came out of nowhere to block it, and then Pigge scored at the other end to make it 62-57 as the game went inside a minute.
 
Roberts was fouled with 38.6 seconds left and made both, making the score 62-59. Penn took timeout, but Harvard broke the Quakers' press and then Barbour drove for a lefty layup that got the margin back to five with just 13.4 seconds left.
 
Roberts went the length of the floor to score with 6.7 seconds left, and after a Penn timeout the Quakers fouled Hinton with 4.9 to go. He missed the front end of the 1-and-1, and then Levine was fouled in the backcourt as he appeared to attempt a desperation three. Despite Penn's protestations arguing that point, the referees called it a foul on the floor which put the sophomore at the line for just two shots with 1.9 seconds left and the margin still three. Levine made the first and then—whether he meant to or not—made the second.
 
Harvard was able to inbound the ball near midcourt and Penn fouled Sullivan immediately with 1.5 seconds on the clock. He missed the front end of his 1-and-1 and Power got the board, but the Quaker junior only had time for a dribble and desperation heave from the opposite foul line that never threatened.
 
Up Next
Penn is back at home next Saturday, hosting defending champion Yale at The Palestra. Tip time is set for 2 p.m. and the game will air nationally on ESPNU.
 
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.