AT COURTSIDE: Quakers' hearts shattered by Princeton

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- When the 1995-96 basketball season began, no one expected very much from the Penn men's team. No one except the Quakers themselves. Penn didn't shoot particularly well or play crushing defense, but it had heart. The Quakers had set goals early in the year and were determined to meet them. At the top of Penn's list was the Ivy League title and a fourth-straight trip to the NCAA tournament. And five months later, the ragtag bunch of former benchwarmers, junior varsity call-ups and freshmen defeated Princeton at the Palestra, stealing a share of the Ivy championship and forcing a showdown on neutral ground, a one-game playoff at Lehigh's Stabler Arena for the NCAA bid. Cracks had appeared in Penn's heart early on, as point guard Jamie Lyren was sidelined for the season with a broken bone in his foot. Academic and personal problems cost the Quakers even more players. But Penn persevered, extending its record Ivy League winning streak to 48 games before falling to Dartmouth in icy Hanover, N.H. The Quakers were forced to battle from behind against Harvard the next night. Penn showed no fear. "You can't just blow a team out by 40 at the beginning of a game," Quakers swingman Ira Bowman said following the 77-63 victory. "Every game you have to play possession by possession. Some nights shots aren't going to drop, as evidenced by tonight. You don't get self-conscious, where you think, 'Oh, this is going to be a tough game.' You just play the game all the way through." In a mid-February blizzard, cellar-dwelling Yale drove a blade into the Quakers' heart. As Bowman watched from the bench, a jumper by Elis' guard Gabe Hunterton with two seconds remaining put Yale on top for good. But Princeton lost games as well, falling to the Quakers in their first Ivy contest of the season. The teams were set to meet again in their last game of the year, March 5 at the Palestra. Penn needed a victory to stay alive. And in front of a sold-out home crowd, the Quakers got the job done, running away with the game in the first half. Penn would have to settle for a split of the Ivy title with the Tigers. The NCAA tournament berth would be decided at Lehigh on March 9. The Quakers came into the tiebreaker ranked next to last in the Ivy League in both field-goal (41.3) and free-throw shooting (63.8) percentages. Poor accuracy was to be their downfall again. Penn made only two of 18 opportunities from the field in the first half, for a pathetic 11.1 shooting percentage. "We almost got what we deserved in terms of shooting percentage," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "We had to be a little more poised and disciplined about our attack. "We didn't play particularly well early in the game. That set the tone for when we did finally get our act together late in the game. It was just enough to tie instead of enough to put us over the hump." Perhaps the Quakers felt the pressure of being three-time representatives in the NCAA tournament. Another trip to the Big Dance would make the season a success for the Penn seniors. "We didn't really win the title," Quakers center Tim Krug said. "What good is it going to be to say we tied them for the Ivy title if they're going to the NCAA tournament?" It was senior leadership that kept the Quakers alive late in the contest. Bowman hit a three-point jumper with 15 seconds remaining in regulation, sending the game into overtime. Senior Cedric Laster gave the Quakers their first lead of the game with four minutes, two seconds remaining in the extra frame, after completing a three-point play. The overtime period gave Penn a new life, and given its success against La Salle in the Quakers' only other overtime game this season, it looked like they might fully recover. But the Quakers had expended too much energy in the comeback. Three-point attempts by Laster and guard Garret Kreitz were just short, and Princeton-killer Donald Moxley, who went 0-for-14 from the field in regulation, did not even attempt a shot in overtime. And with one minute, two seconds left in the contest, Princeton guard Sydney Johnson's three pointer fell. Two Johnson free throws with 24 seconds remaining iced the game for the Tigers. The final horn sounded, Princeton fans stormed the court, and Penn players -- their hearts and hopes shattered -- struggled to hold back the tears.

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