Penn Quakers defeat the Harvard Crimson to make the Ivy League tournament

The Penn Quakers welcome the Harvard Crimson to the Palestra for a senior night matchup with monumental implications for them.

On a special night for seniors Dylan Jones and Matt Howard, the Penn Quakers [12-14, 6-8 Ivy] beat the Harvard Crimson [18-9, 10-4 Ivy] 75-72. A last second three-pointer by Jackson Donahue secured the Quakers place in the first-ever Ivy League tournament. Everyone counted this team out when they were 0-6 in the conference and they were able to beat the odds to grab the four seed in the tournament thanks to 24 points and three blocks from Howard.

From the opening whistle, it was clear that this was Matt Howard’s court and everyone else was sharing it with him. Howard began the night with seven points for the Quakers sparking a 7-2 run to take the early lead on Harvard. The Quakers followed that up by going scoreless for the next three minutes while Harvard went on a 5-0 run to tie the game up. But Howard answered right back with four more points to draw the Penn Quakers level in this one.

He also put in a tough defensive effort registering two blocks as part of a good defensive first half for the Quakers today. Penn routinely made Harvard’s young lineup look frustrated on the offensive end forcing airballs, turnovers, and shot clock violations. As bad as Penn played on the defensive end against Dartmouth yesterday, they seemed to have fixed some of those issues in time for facing the Crimson in a do or die game.

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It went back and forth for most of the first half but the Penn Quakers ended the first half down 35-31 with a berth to the Ivy League tournament on the line. Matt Howard led all scorers in the half with 13 but he would need his supporting cast to step up in the second half to pull out a win.

The Quakers didn’t begin the second half on a strong note but as the half wore on the supporting cast stepped up to support their senior. A.J. Brodeur stepped up with 11 points in the second half as Penn went on a 9-3 run to grab a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. From starting 0-6 in the Ivy League, coach Donahue and his players were the only people who truly believed that they would pull this off.

A look at the final shot by Jackson Donahue:

The defense tightened up down the stretch and ended the game with five steals and five blocks compared to only nine turnovers. Ball security makes everything easier and the Penn Quakers made the most of their chances with nine players tallying points in this all important game.

When asked about the crowd tonight senior Matt Howard said, “It was definitely an electric atmosphere out there tonight. We made a lot of big plays and rode the energy of the crowd down the stretch.” It has been a while since a crowd like that has been in the Palestra and now they’ll have more to cheer for in the coming weeks.

Next: Quakers suffer damning loss to Dartmouth at home

The Quakers have always been at their best with their backs against the wall and that’s evident by their 57 percent shooting percentage in the second half. Luckily for them, moving forward every game will be played with their backs to the wall. Next up is a matchup with the Princeton Tigers in the Ivy League tournament on Saturday, March 11th at 1:30. It’s a nice shift to see the Quakers playing postseason basketball for the first time since 2007 but this story is still being written. All eyes shift to winning the Ivy and making some noise in the NCAA tournament.

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