Penn, on the other hand, relied little on its bench, but fatigue did not seem to be an issue.
Four of the Quakers’ five starters played 33 minutes or more. Fikiel saw 25 minutes of action off the bench. The only other Quaker reserve who played significant minutes was forward Ryan Pettinella, who scored five points in 11 minutes but went a dismal 1-for-9 from the foul line.
ALMOST FREE
There was a glaring disparity in free-throw attempts, as Harvard was outshot 29 to 12. The Crimson was whistled for 26 fouls, compared to just 17 for the Quakers.
Harvard had trouble handling the quick three-guard set that Penn used, which clearly contributed to the huge difference in free throws.
The Crimson also seemed to be affected by some questionable officiating, particularly in the second half, when every blocking or charging call seemed to go in the Quakers’ direction.
“Obviously you want every call to go your way,” Cusworth said, “but it seemed to me that there were a lot of calls that would totally be no-calls [on other nights]. For a home team, you would almost never see something like that.”
Still, Cusworth acknowledged that poor execution, rather than poor officiating, was the deciding factor in the game.
“I can’t blame the game on the officials, because offensively we just weren’t there tonight,” he said.
BEGS THE QUESTION
Penn guard Tim Begley took over the game when it mattered, leading an 11-0 run that broke the game open after Harvard tied the score early in the second half. He scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half, and also had 10 rebounds.
Begley shot 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, and seemed to get stronger down the stretch despite playing a game-high 38 minutes.
Though not the most physically gifted player in the Ivy League, Begley is clearly one of most valuable. The senior is the catalyst of perhaps the best team in the league, and leads his squad in points, assists, and rebounds.
“He’s a great player,” Cusworth said. “We didn’t do a great job on help defense.”
“Certainly Tim is a legitimate candidate for player of the year in the league,” Sullivan added.
—Staff writer Stewart H. Hauser can be reached at hauser@fas.harvard.edu.