1994-95 IVY LEAGUE M. HOOPS STANDINGS: Penn sweeps Empire State foes to extend lead

Routs of Cornell, Columbia leave magic no. at 6 Once again, two Ivy League teams dutifully made a weekend appearance at the Palestra. And as usual, Penn handily sent them back whence they came with a pair of 30-point victories. Friday, Cornell (8-11, 3-4 Ivy League) was offered up to the Quakers and was smacked to the tune of 101-71. Saturday, Columbia (3-17, 0-8) continued its Ivy ineptitude, falling 90-55. Penn (15-3, 7-0) didn't play perfectly either night, but it really never mattered. The Quakers' 35th and 36th straight Ivy League victories were simply routine Palestra thrashings of a kind that has become increasingly common. Cornell held the only visiting lead of the weekend at 15-13, but the game was never in doubt. Penn came out firing -- Jerome Allen nailed an NBA three just after the tip-off -- but the Quakers were unable to shake the Big Red until three Ira Bowman steals and some nice passing keyed a 13-2 run midway through the first half. "We were executing and moving without the ball for the most part in the first half," Allen said. "We did a good job of moving the ball around the perimeter." A 20-2 run early in the second half put the game safely out of reach after Cornell had closed to as few as seven on three-pointers from Brandt Schuckman and Dan Wendt before halftime, and another from Wendt to open the second half. Two Matt Maloney threes began the run and a Shawn Trice double-pump layup made it 67-42. All game long, Allen and Maloney found players cutting through the lane for easy hoops -- usually Eric Moore, who had 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting. Allen ended up with nine assists, and Maloney had six. "I think Jerome Allen's going to be making those same passes at the next level next year," Cornell coach Al Walker said. "One day we hope to pass the ball as well as those guys did. The game was won with their great guard play. What did Maloney shoot? Eight of 15?" All that was left was Cedric Laster scoring the ritual 100th and 101st points with a driving layup. Maloney led the Quakers with 20 and Allen had 17. It was the most points scored by Penn in an Ivy game since 1979, when the Quakers scored 103 against Harvard. It was more of the same Saturday. The first half was sloppy, with Penn taking poor care of the ball on offense. The Quakers' 11 first-half turnovers were more than they usually have in a game. Columbia players kept getting open, but the Lions couldn't hit a shot to save their lives, shooting a mere 22.6 percent from the field. Up only 33-20, it was a different halftime talk than usual from Penn coach Fran Dunphy. "We all knew going into the locker room at halftime that it wasn't one of the better first halves that we've had," Bowman said. "We understood that something had to change in the second half and I think today our halftime talk was a little different. Every game we go out and try to play the perfect game, but there's slight odds that that's going to happen." In the second half, though, Penn could do no wrong. With the Quakers up 35-22 a few minutes into the second half, Scott Kegler missed a three from the left side, ran into the lane, grabbed the rebound, and hit a three from the right side. It was all over, despite the fact Penn went nine of 20 from the free throw line for the game. For the most part, Penn did it with defense, forcing 26 turnovers. "It really starts with our defense," Kegler said. "We can really pressure teams and get a hand on the ball and get a steal and get an easy bucket that really gets us going." One constant between the two nights was the spark provided by Bowman and Tim Krug off the bench. Against Cornell, a two-handed slam from Krug courtesy of Allen brought the crowd to its feet. Bowman had 10 steals in the two games, including one of a Cornell outlet pass while lying on the floor after missing his own shot. He also had monster dunks in each game, one all over Columbia's Chad Brown. The two juniors combined for 25 points against Cornell and 23 against Columbia, even though Bowman said he doesn't notice a change in play when he and Krug come off the bench. The blowouts gave the fans a chance to get a glimpse of next year's team. Junior Don Moxley and sophomore Nat Graham were the first off the bench. At one point, Graham got the ball at the three-point line after Allen penetrated and broke down the defense. Left alone, Graham seemed to marvel at how open he was before tossing up the three. The freshmen -- Vigor Kapetanovic, George Zaninovich and Garett Kreitz -- all got substantial playing time as well. Kapetanovic showed improvement in his post moves while Zaninovich and Kreitz each nailed an NBA three against Columbia. "I like some of the things that I've seen from some of our guys who don't get to play too much, like George Zaninovich," Dunphy said. "Vigor is somebody who's going to be part of our future. Graham and Moxley need to get in the game a little earlier than they did tonight and that's one of the things we talked about at halftime." When a team spends time in the locker room at halftime talking about how to get the end of the bench more playing time, you can tell it was a weekend in which Penn had all the answers to any question Cornell and Columbia could throw at it. Even in the press room, the Quakers had the right answer. After the Bowman dunk on Brown, he appeared to linger over Brown, staring him down. When asked about it, Bowman gave the following response: "I know Chad. At the moment that it happened I was going to help him up but I didn't want him to take it as a sign of disrespect so I kind of froze for a moment. It wasn't a stare or anything like that; I just didn't know what to do. Then Jerome yelled to hurry up and get back and it looked worse than it actually was." To which Dunphy replied: "That is the finest answer I have heard you give. That's a tremendous answer. I think that's fantastic." It was indeed a weekend where Penn had all of the answers.