POTTSTOWN, Pa. -- Over the course of The Hill School's 67-41 victory over Abington Friends School yesterday, there were two players on Hill's side with the ability to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
Unfortunately for Penn, both of them will be playing for Ivy League rivals next season.
Evan Harris, who will take his game to Harvard, led the Blues with 19 points and six rebounds. Noah Levine, soon to become a member of Princeton's Class of 2009, displayed his soft shooting touch en route to an 11-point performance. The 6-foot-9, 230-pound Levine also grabbed five boards for the victors.
For Harris and Levine, after the playoffs, it is on to the Ivies, where they will go from teammates to rivals.
"I'm looking forward to beating him and not just playing against him," Levine said.
As is to be expected, both players have followed their future college squads, but were limited by the rigors of prep school and the basketball schedule.
Harris has not been to Boston for a game this season, but does plan on attending the Penn-Harvard game at the Palestra on the season's final weekend.
Levine, who has attended games at Jadwin Gymnasium, was also in the crowd when his Tigers fell victim to Penn's historic comeback at the Palestra.
"It was a great atmosphere -- not the outcome I was looking for," he said.
However, Levine does see brighter times in the next four years for the Tigers program, currently last in the league with a 2-5 record.
"I see us in the top 25," Levine said. "That was what I was drawn into by Coach [Joe] Scott. He really had a vision to be ranked in the top 25, and that's where I hope it's going."
Last night's game was a laugher early on with Hill taking advantage of a depleted Kangaroos roster and jumping out to a 36-8 lead at halftime.
However, when a fourth quarter run cut the lead to 17, Harris and Levine sprang off the bench and, within minutes, ended any chance of a comeback with a beautiful pass from Harris that resulted in a layup by Levine.
Both looked in control all night with Levine outside swishing 15-footers and the 6-9 Harris inside playing a dominant post game. Harris exhibited his tendency to look to shoot first, several times powering the ball to the bucket with his left-handed -- a very difficult move for undersized high schoolers to stop.
Next up for Hill is the Mid Atlantic Prep League playoffs, and a matchup with Peddie, the alma mater of Penn guard Ibby Jaaber.
Alumni of MAPL schools in the Ivy League also include Cornell's Will Scott, Dartmouth's Calvin Arnold, Columbia's Kashif Sweet and Princeton's Noah Savage.
Both Harris and Levine chose to spend an extra year of high school at Hill, but for different reasons.
"I was just really young coming out of my senior year, so I just decided to get bigger, stronger, older," said Harris, who had already finished high school at Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles.
For Levine, who entered Hill to repeat his junior year, the decision was about being recognized by college coaches.
"I was in a small league at the Friends Seminary in New York and didn't get a lot of exposure," Levine said. "My coach knew the coach here and it was a great opportunity to repeat a grade and get good exposure."
Levine and Harris hope that the exposure and extra year of refinement will springboard them from high school dominance to promising futures in the Ivy League.
