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M. Hoops falls to Princeton in overtime

(03/08/06 10:00am)

PRINCETON, N.J. -- It was almost a comeback to rival any ever seen in the long history of Penn-Princeton basketball games. In fact, the comeback itself was completed. This time, though, the team on the wrong end of the rally had the final say. After Penn came back from 16 points down at halftime to send the game to overtime and led for most of the extra session, Justin Conway's layup with 2.8 seconds gave Princeton a truly astonishing 60-59 victory over Penn in front of 3,633 at Jadwin Gymnasium. At halftime, the mere possibility of Penn winning the game seemed distant. Princeton put on a clinic of its trademark offense, shooting 57.9 percent from the field - including five threes on 10 attempts - and embarrasing the Quakers with backdoor layups midway through the first half. When the second half began, the Quakers ratcheted up their defense, deploying a full-court press early and maintaining it for most of the rest of the game. Between that and some cold Tigers shooting, Penn slowly cut into Princeton's lead. And somehow, the Quakers got within two points on their first made three-pointer of the game, shot by Ibrahim Jaaber with 7:51 remaining. The basket put Jaaber past the 1,000-point mark for his career. Princeton maintained its lead, though, and was up by five points with 1:36 to go. But Penn kept fighting, and after forcing a Tigers turnover, Jaaber tied the game at 50 points apiece with 24 seconds remaining. Princeton's last shot of regulation missed, and the game went to overtime. With Mark Zoller and Steve Danley on the bench having fouled out in regulation, Jaaber took the tip for Penn - and won it. The Quakers controlled much of the extra session, and were up by four with three minutes to play thanks to a layup by senior Greg Kuchinski. But this time, it was the Tigers who refused to fold. Conway made it 58-56 with two free throws, then Noah Savage tied the game with a layup with 41 seconds remaining. Jaaber then made one of two free throws with nine seconds remaining to give Penn a one point lead, and the Tigers got set for one last play. Senior guard Scott Greenman, playing at Jadwin Gym for the last time, raced down the floor, and found Conway open under the basket for a layup with two seconds to go. When it was all over, Quakers coach Fran Dunphy tried to put a positive spin on things. "It would have been great if we could have stopped that last thrust to the basket," he said,."But we got a little bit out of whack there, and we let Greenman up for air and he made a great play." That "last thrust" might not have been an issue, though, had Penn played any better than it did in the first half. The Quakers shot 27.8 percent from the field and took only 18 shots, in that span, missing all five of their three-pointers. Just as importantly, if not more so, they turned the ball over 11 times before halftime. As bad as it was, Dunphy said he had seen worse. "I've been coaching 17 years," he said. "You don't think we've had worse efforts than this in a half? Absolutely." For his part, Jaaber - who was the game's leading scorer with 26 points and took 19 of Penn's 48 field goal attempts - said that the blame for the loss should be put on the team's leaders on the floor. "It was us, it was our preparation for the game," he said. "We didn't come out ready, and that's just something that the leaders of the team have to prepare for. It's our job to get everybody ready for the game, and I don't think we did that today." At the other end of the floor, meanwhile, Joe Scott and his Tigers were clearly ready for the game, which brought a fitting end to their remarkable turnaround during Ivy League play. The same Princeton team which scored only 21 points against Monmouth and lost to Division III Carnegie Mellon finished alone in second place with a 10-4 conference mark. Conway's 21 points had a lot to do with Princeton's final conference win, and his maturation from junior varsity player to starting center has paralleled Princeton's reseurgence. Nonetheless, Scott admitted to being somewhat surprised that Conway has done this well. Scott said that he told the junior at the end of last season that "stranger things have happened" than his becoming a varsity starter. Strange things have been well known to happen when Penn and Princeton get together, and perhaps in such a context, this game was not different from so many others. After all, it was just over a year ago that the Quakers last pulled off a big comeback against Princeton, a 70-62 overtime win at the Palestra. "That's probably the way this game is supposed to between the two of us," Scott said. "I was on both sides of miracles in the Palestra - This one, it's up there." Scott concluded his postgame remarks by saying that "there are so many great games in this rivalry, and there are certainly going to be more. That's just the way it is." It was just another reminder that there is always plenty to play for when Penn and Princeton get together.

https://www.thedp.com/article/2006/03/m-hoops-falls-to-princeton-in-overtime

Penn outlasts Brown in overtime

(03/04/06 10:00am)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- For the second straight night, the Penn men's basketball team was on the receiving end of the best punch an inferior opponent could throw. And even though the Quakers found themselves on the ropes for the overwhelming majority of the evening against Brown, they managed to get up and land the final blow for a 74-68 overtime victory. "That's two real good wins for us, there's no question," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said of beating the Bears a night after surviving a close game at Yale. "We feel very fortunate to have won both games." The Bears controlled much of the first half with its defense, a three-quarter court press with a bit of 2-3 zone which flustered Penn throughout the first half.

https://www.thedp.com/article/2006/03/penn_outlasts_brown_in_overtime

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