After scoring 23 in the Quakers’ loss to Dartmouth Friday night, rookie Tony Hicks did one better against the Crimson. Hicks tallied a game-high 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, including the game’s final point—a free throw with two seconds left on the clock.

At the onset of the first half, Hicks carried the Quakers’ offense, contributing seven of his team’s first nine points, as Penn amassed a 9-3 lead it would maintain for the entirety of the game. The rookie had 16 points in that frame, including two straight layups to bolster his team’s lead to 14 with 3:02 to playing in the opening period.

Penn’s Darien Nelson-Henry also had an impressive night for the Quakers, posting 18 points and a game-best 11 rebounds. His presence in the paint—the rookie notched 16 points inside and two more from the charity stripe—helped push his team to a 34-14 advantage down low. The Quakers also bested Harvard in second-chance points by a key five-point margin.

“I take my hat off to them,” Allen said of the duo. “It is their first rodeo, and tonight they played like it mattered to them and they were seasoned veterans. We wish we had seniors to show them the way, but it is what it is. There is no better type of experience than being on the floor.”

For the second time this season, the Quakers held Harvard’s top rookie—freshman point guard Siyani Chambers—to just five points on the game. Chambers has averaged 12.9 points per game so far this year.

—Staff writer Catherine E. Coppinger can be reached at ccoppinger@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @catcopp.