With under 10 seconds left in the first half, Saunders found an open Curry on the right wing. Curry caught the pass from the top of the key and put up the three, finishing off a 29-5 Harvard run and sending the Crimson to intermission with a 21-point lead.

“[That score] was another momentum play,” Amaker said. “An uplifting three-point shot…. I can honestly say that we knew that shot was a big shot and, if we could seize momentum early in the second half, that it could be a decisive moment there.”

THE NUMBERS GAME

For the first eight minutes and 53 seconds, it looked as if the Harvard-Penn matchup would live up to its billing as one of the tightest—and tensest—games of the season. For the first eight minutes and 53 seconds, the Quakers and the Crimson essentially traded baskets, taking an eye for an eye, with one jump shot answered by the next.

And then Penn turned the other cheek. That was when the Crimson hits started coming.

From the 11:07 mark of the first period until the not-so-bitter end, Harvard outscored its Philadelphia counterpart, 65-32. From that tick of the clock on, the Quakers tallied only 13 field goals. In contrast, from that point forward, the Crimson notched 11 three-pointers.

The various numbers add up to the biggest Harvard win over Penn in the matchup’s history. The next largest defeat came in the midst of World War II, in the 1941-1942 season, when Harvard blew out the Quakers by 27 points.

“We were locked in on the things that we thought we needed to do to take control of the game,” Amaker said. “I give our kids credit for taking control and executing things that they have been taught and drilled to do. We can come at people in spurts and waves….  We took advantage of things to extend [the lead]."