The Pennsylvania Quakers used to be one of the two marquee Ivy League basketball programs. They have fallen on hard times since legendary coach Fran Dunphy replaced another legend, John Chaney, at Temple. Friday night, the Quakers travelled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to face one of the teams that has surpassed them in recent years, the Harvard Crimson. Harvard dominated the youthful Quakers in the first meeting this season, winning 63-38 in Philadelphia on January 3.
The Quakers hung around a bit longer this time, keeping the game close until midway through the second half when Harvard broke the game open. Harvard would win 69-46 after leading by just seven at halftime: 31-24.
The Quakers were missing team captain and star player Tony Hicks, who was suspended by head coach Jerome Allen for both games this weekend due to his behavior during and immediately following last week’s loss to Brown.
With four freshmen already seeing significant playing time and at least one starting every game, Penn is a young team in transition, but fans and alumni are getting impatient. The Quakers were led last night by freshman guard Antonio Woods, who scored 12 points. Matt Howard was the only other Quaker in double figures, scoring 10 points.
Harvard was led by their star trio of Wesley Saunders, Siyani Chambers and Steve Mondou-Missi. Saunders led all scorers with 15 points while Mondou-Missi contributed 14 points and 7 rebounds. Chambers added 10 points for the Crimson.
Penn falls to 7-15 on the season and 2-6 in the Ivy League while Harvard is now 18-5 and tied with Yale for first place in the league at 8-1. The two schools have a comfortable lead on Princeton, who will face Harvard tonight while Penn travels to Dartmouth.