So close, and yet?

Streak ends atStreak ends atjust sky of record HANOVER, N.H. -- Fran Dunphy, Donald Moxley and Tim Krug sat silently at a table in the press room. Through the closed door, one could still hear the raucous pandemonium out on the court. And Ira Bowman was nowhere to be found. The scoreboard read 54-53, Dartmouth. Moments earlier, Bowman had missed the front end of a one-and-one bonus with eight seconds to play. Within seconds, the game was over. For the first time since March 6, 1992, the Penn men's basketball team lost an Ivy League game. It was the first conference loss for any member of the team. It was the first conference loss in 48 games. It was the end of The Streak. The game had been cast all season as a battle of strength against strength. Krug against Dartmouth's Brian Gilpin, Bowman against Sea Lonergan. Dartmouth coach Dave Faucher said afterwards that his program is modeled on Penn's. It was close, it was hard fought, and it was, uncharacteristically for the Quakers, a loss. ""It doesn't feel too good," Krug said. "I would have liked it to continue. It would have been a nice thing. But all the talk about the streak, the streak, the streak -- the talking is done. The streak is done." Both halves of the game fell into the same pattern, with Penn running out to a mid-half lead -- 22-12 in the first, 50-43 in the second -- before Dartmouth fought back to pull within two at the half, and to pull ahead at the end. The 50-43 lead was the high point for the Quakers in the second half. From there, Dartmouth charged back to tie the game at 50 on a P.J. Halas three from the left wing with 3:09 to play. With less than a minute on the clock and the Quakers down 52-51, Krug was blocked down low, but Dartmouth guard Kenny Mitchell walked at the other end of the court. Penn called time out with 35 seconds to play. After Bowman brought the ball up court, Moxley and Kreitz moved the ball around the perimeter until Moxley drove with at the :17 mark and hit a leaning runner to put the Quakers in control, 53-52. At the other end, Halas fed the ball down low to Gilpin, who was fouled by Krug on the baseline with 16 seconds to play. Gilpin hit both free throws to take the lead at 54-53. Bowman took the inbound pass, ran the length of the court, and was

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