Pennsylvania's basketball team continued its late season surge by beating the varsity, 77 to 66, Saturday night at Philadelphia for the second time within a week.

Harvard played a tighter defense than in last Tuesday's game, limiting Penn to 18 fewer points. Because the Quakers had faked the varsity's man-to-man defense all over the court last week, Coach Norm Shepard shifted to the zone.

For the first 15 minutes, the zone defense worked fairly well, and the score was tied at 35-all. Then Penn's set shooter, Bob Brooks, hit from the outside with seven baskets, and the Quakers went ahead to a seven-point halftime lead.

In the second half, Shepard had to go back to the man-to-man defense. This time it worked. Penn was held to 33 points, and Gerry Murphy, who had an off night Tuesday, allowed Brooks only three points.

Offensively, the varsity kept within a few points of the Quakers except for the winners' spurts at the end of each half. Ed Smith, high Crimson scorer with 22 points, played one of his best all-around games.

Shepard said last night that his team, which usually plays an inside game, did perhaps its "best job to date on its set shooting." The Crimson got about a third of its 23 baskets on sets.

The summary: Harvard (66)   G  F  P Crosby, rf  2  1  5 Rockwell, lf  6  7  19 Bramhall  1  1  3 Smith, c  10  2  22 Prior  0  1  1 Hickey, rf  1  2  4 Murphy, lg  3  4  10 Covey  0  2  2   --  --  -- Totals  23  20  66