BOX SCORE
Ivy League giant Harvard took the measure of Penn Friday nightsomething thats becoming increasingly common, for the Quakers and the rest of the leagueleaving Penn coach Jerome Allen to ponder the what-ifs.
What if his team had been just a little sharper on defense? What if his star guard, Zack Rosen, hadnt seen one shot after another spill off the rim?
In Allens mind, things might have turned out differently.
As it was, he was left to digest a 56-50 loss, one in which a freshman guard named Corbin Miller came off the Harvard bench and erupted for 17 points in 22 minutes, both season-highs.
The victory was the ninth straight for the 25th-ranked Crimson (21-2, 7-0), their sixth straight over the Quakers (12-11, 4-2) and their fourth straight in the Palestra.
Kyle Casey also scored 17 for the Crimson, who now sport a two-game lead in the Ivy over Yale, which lost to Cornell Friday.
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The Quakers are another half-game back, and scrambling.
For the most part, when we let up, they made us pay, Allen said.
There must have been, by his estimation, 15 defensive possessions where his team missed an assignment.
I demand the right thing on every possession, Allen said. We cant afford to take a possession off, especially defensively. A couple times we blew an assignment and hoped theyd miss. And they didnt miss.
Maybe, he said, it was fatigue. And maybe Harvard just has too many weapons. Three Crimson startersLaurent Rivard, Keith Wright and Brandyn Currycombined to score five points on 0 for 14 shooting. But Casey was good, and Miller was off the charts.
Miller came in averaging 3.4 points in 9.6 minutes a night, but shot 5 for 10 from the field, 3 for 7 from three arc and 4 for 6 from the foul line.
That was critical, considering neither team was sharp at the offensive end. Harvard made 34.7 percent of its attempts, while Penn shot just 32.1 percent from the field.
Eight of Millers points came in a critical 14-4 second-half run, which put the Crimson ahead for good. He started that off by dropping in a three-pointer from the left wing with 11:35 left, snapping a 30-30 tie. He later added a baseline jumper and, with 7:22 remaining, another three from the left wing, giving the Crimson a 44-34 lead.
Penn whittled the deficit to 53-50 on a deep three by Zack Rosen with 23.7 seconds left. But Miller, who moments earlier had converted both ends of a one-and-one, made the second of two foul shots to push Harvards lead to four.
Tyler Bernardini then missed a three-pointer from the right corner. And Casey connected twice at the line to account for the final margin.
Rosen paced Penn with 16 points, but shot just 6 for 21. Miles Cartwright added 12. But Bernardini, the Quakers' second-leading scorer behind Rosen (at 15 points a night), had just two, both at the foul line. He missed all five of his shots from the field.
Again, some what-ifs: What if Bernardini hadnt been limited to 28 minutes because of foul trouble? What if Rosen had gotten a favorable bounce or two?
In the first half, Zack had five or six looks that went in and out, Allen said. They did a solid job (defensively), but we had the opportunity to make plays, and we just didnt.
Miller, who missed three earlier games this season with a thumb injury, made the most of his chance.
Hes beyond his years, Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said of the freshman. He has an incredible sense of balance about who he is. He doesnt get rattled.I have confidence in him. I have confidence in our bench.
The Crimson reserves outscored the Penn bench, 26-12. Another Harvard sub, forward Steve Moundou-Missi, contributed nine points and eight rebounds.
Four of Moundou-Missis points came in an 11-0 first-half flurry, during which Harvard erased a 17-14 deficit to go up 25-17 with 2:14 remaining.
The Quakers later cut the gap to three, but Oliver McNally made a pair of free throws in the halfs final half-minute, giving the Crimson a 28-23 halftime lead.
Casey, who scored Harvards first nine points of the game, finished the half with 11. Cartwright had nine to pace Penn.
Harvard pushed its advantage to 30-23 early in the second half, but the Quakers reeled off seven straight points, the last on Cartwrights three-pointer, to tie it 30-all with 12:30 left.
Then Miller went to work. Penn, which hosts Dartmouth Saturday, must now do the same.
Theres still a lot of basketball to be played, Allen said. Were going to need some help (to overtake Harvard). Having said that, I think we control our own destiny. Weve got to focus on what were doing, one game at a time.
This may come as a shock, but Amaker was saying much the same thing, even as he was asked how his team might compare to some past Ivy powers.
Were hopeful we can play well (Saturday) night, he said, looking ahead to a game at Princeton. I appreciate the question, but we have a long way to go before we can think of ourselves as anything along those lines. Right now its full speed ahead with whats ahead of us this season.
E-mail Gordie Jones at gwjones11@gmail.com.