It's all over for Penn, Princeton & Pete

After overtime playoff win over the Quakers, Carril announces his retirement BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The Quakers discovered against Princeton that the road to the NCAA tournament is not paved with bricks. Despite Penn guard Ira Bowman's clutch three-pointer with 16 seconds remaining which sent the game into overtime, the Quakers miserable shooting performance eventually sent them home as Penn fell to archrival Princeton, 63-56, on March 9. The playoff victory gave Princeton the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and ended the Quakers' season. After the game, Princeton coach Pete Carril announced his retirement after 29 years of coaching the Tigers. "I knew for five months I was going to quit," said Carril, who added that long-time assistant Bill Carmody will take over as head coach. "But I didn't want it to become a traveling road show." Carril said that the victory over Penn -- which was necessary because both Penn and Princeton ended the regular season with identical 12-2 records -- was the highlight of his coaching career. Both of Princeton's losses came at the hands of the Quakers, the last one a 63-49 rout by the Quakers on March 5, which forced the one-game playoff. In fact, Penn had beaten the Tigers the last eight meetings. "I told [my players] to look in the mirror and see what they're made of, and I had to look into it myself," Carril said. Princeton jumped out to an early 9-1 lead in the game. But Penn remained in striking distance throughout the heated affair, despite hitting only 24.4 percent of its field goals, its second-worst performance of the season. In fact, the Quakers made only two field goals in the entire first half, which ended with Princeton ahead 26-17. "It was a matter of us being a little impatient early, just thinking we could do the things which were successful in the first two games and really forcing the issue and not getting good team shots," said Bowman, who finished with 21 points on 5-for-10 shooting. "Princeton did a good job of really coming out and getting up early," Bowman added. "We were fighting from behind the whole time." Although every Quaker other than Bowman had a poor shooting night, senior Donald Moxley -- who had been the star performer for Penn in the previous two games against Princeton -- had a day he is not likely to forget anytime soon. Moxley misfired on all 14 shots he took from the field, including his five three-point attempts. "I give their defense a lot of credit," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "I think they're a very solid defensive team that contests every shot that you take. We had to be a little more poised and a little more disciplined about our attack. I think we almost got what we deserved in terms of shooting percentage." Quakers all-Ivy center Tim Krug (2-for-8, 6 points) and sophomore Garett Kreitz (1-for-5, 8 points) also had problems finding the touch. Freshman forward Paul Romanczuk was able to avoid any misfires, but that was only because he did not take a shot in his 28 minutes of play. Ironically, what saved the Quakers from being routed was foul shooting -- even though Penn was the second-worst team in the Ivy League from the line. Penn had 38 attempts from the charity stripe, and hit on 30 of them, accounting for more than half of its points. "We missed some shots that we normally can make," Dunphy said. "It seemed like we got to the foul line an extraordinary amount of times, which was presenting us with as many points as we were going to get for the night. I give their defense a lot of credit. I think they're a very solid defense that gets to every shot that you take." Penn's solid foul shooting, combined with the Tigers inability to put the game away, left the Quakers down only three points, 49-46, with 26 seconds remaining in regulation. Although Penn never held the lead in the entire two halves of play, Bowman swished a three-pointer from several feet behind the top of the key to tie the game at 49 with 15 seconds left, extending the game to another time period. In just under a minute of the five-minute overtime, Quakers reserve forward Cedric Laster gave Penn its first lead of the day with a layup. And when center Steve Goodrich was called for his fifth foul trying to defend the shot, Laster hit the free throw, giving the Quakers a 52-51 lead with 4:02 left in overtime. But that would be the high point of the game for Penn as things quickly went downhill -- due, in large part, to the leadership of Princeton captain Sydney Johnson. Princeton's silky-smooth guard broke a 54-54 deadlock wide-open with five points -- a three-pointer and two successful free throws -- on two consecutive possessions. Johnson proceeded to steal the ball from Bowman, the Penn guard's sixth turnover of the game, to seal the win for the Tigers. "You've got to give them credit as a championship-caliber team," Bowman said. "The better team tonight won."

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