PHILADELPHIA, Pa -- There's nothing like Ivy League weekends at The Palestra, especially when the University of Pennsylvania Quakers (8-11, 2-3 Ivy League) sweep them in front of historic home crowds. The Quakers completed a sweep Saturday night with a key win over the Harvard Crimson (9-13, 1-5 Ivy League); Penn outrebounded Harvard by 21 and overcame 17 turnovers to come out with a 67-57 victory.

The Quakers showed great resilience and toughness, utilizing an arsenal of weapons to cruise by the injury-plagued Crimson. Freshman big man Max Rothschild had a big night, notching one of three Penn double-doubles with his 14 points and 11 rebounds. Post play aficionado Darien Nelson-Henry performed well once again, leading all players in the game with both his 18 points and his 12 boards. Forward Matt Howard added 12 and 11 as the Quakers dominated in the paint and won the rebounding column by a 53-to-32 margin.

"We try to do this every night. We try to compete after the shot every night," said Rothschild at his postgame press conference. "When we outrebound them by that much, the game’s going to go our way."

Tight First Half Leaves No Questions Answered

Things started out slowly for Penn, as for the second straight night, the team went down by seven points early on. Harvard opened the game well, with a basket by Chris Egi on their opening possession and a subsequent steal and flush by Evan Cummins to start the game off well. 

Penn got on the board with a successful and-one by Jake Silpe to make it 7-3, and exactly at the 15-minute mark of the first half, a Jackson Donahue three-pointer tied the game up at 10. Both teams then hit a three minute dry spell, neck-and-neck on both ends of the court, but the Crimson were able to regain a five-point advantage with 2:42 left in the half, up 25-20. However, the Quakers closed the second half on a 7-0 run to end the first 20 up two, 27-25.

Penn Pulls Away And Doesn't Look Back

After a DNH layup and a trio of Harvard free throws made it 29-28 Penn at the 18:16 mark of the second, Penn went on a 10-2 run, extending their lead to 39-30 behind the inside duo of Nelson-Henry and Howard.

Patrick Steeves helped cut the deficit to 41-37 for the Crimson by the 11:50 point, and teammate Agunwa Okolie scored three buckets in a row to keep up with Penn, making it 43-41 halfway through the final period. But Rothschild and Penn were having none of it, and the Quakers went on another impressive run to jump out to an 11-point lead with under five minutes to go, 58-47. 

Harvard started fouling as the final two minutes arrived, and a pair of Darnell Foreman free throws saw the scoreboard change to 62-50, the Quakers' biggest lead of the night. Steeves hit a couple of threes for the Crimson down the stretch, but Harvard didn't have enough in the tank to come back, as Penn sealed it with decent foul shooting and a ten-point victory.

The Stats

Despite a night of 17 turnovers to just six takeaways, the Quakers held Harvard to just 30.9 percent shooting from the field and controlled the paint and the glass to come out with their second consecutive Ivy League win. 

Penn had 46 points in the paint to Harvard's 26, forcing the Crimson into 30 three-point attempts, only seven of which sunk for coach Tommy Amaker's side.

Patrick Steeves led the way for Harvard with 13 points on 3-4 shooting from downtown while Okolie had a double-double of 11 points and 10 boards and Corey Johnson dropped 11. Tommy McCarthy had an additional eight points and five assists.

Ivy League Implications

The Quakers are now fourth in the conference standings with a 2-3 mark against fellow Ivy League teams while Harvard drops to 1-5 in league play, tied at dead last with Darmouth, whom Penn beat Friday night by a score of 71-64.