Quakers sweep first two in Ivies

Penn called on foul shooting and inside play to beat Yale and Brown and open 2-0 for the fifth straight year. PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- It wasn't pretty, but it will have to do. Those are, for the most part, the sentiments of everyone connected to Penn's visit to Yale and Brown to open the Ivy League men's basketball season last weekend. Despite sometimes shaky play, Penn (5-4, 2-0 Ivy League) was able to get two wins and keep pace with Harvard, Dartmouth and Princeton, all of whom swept their games in the first Ivy League weekend of the year. The annual road trip to New Haven and Providence has been troublesome for Penn in recent years, even though neither Yale nor Brown has been in the Ivy League title hunt of late. Last season, Yale handed Penn one of its two league losses, meaning that the Quakers only shared the Ivy title with Princeton. But Penn avenged that defeat by beating Yale thoroughly, 70-54. The first half of Saturday night's 59-53 defeat of Brown (1-12, 0-2) looked more like a repeat of losses past. A tenacious defensive effort from the Bears, coupled with hot shooting (12-for-21 in the half), gave Brown a 29-22 halftime lead and a glimpse of just their second win. It was Penn's 11th consecutive victory over the Bears. "We didn't play well in the first half," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "We got a number of open looks and we didn't take advantage of those. I thought Brown had a nice game plan and did a real good job against us." The Quakers needed someone -- anyone -- to step up and spark a rally or watch their title hopes start to fade in front of the Providence Civic Center crowd's eyes. The man who answered the call was sophomore forward Jed Ryan, whose hot hand (3 three-pointers) sparked a 15-0 run that brought Penn from seven points down to eight up in the second half. Ryan, Penn forward Paul Romanczuk, and Brown forward Kamal Rountree led all scorers with 11 points. "In the second half there was one stretch where [Ryan] must have made three straight big field goals," Dunphy said. "It really provided a great help to us." Ahead 39-31 with 12 minutes left, the Quakers never looked back. The Bears did manage to stay close, largely due to the efforts of Oggie Kapetanovic (brother of former Penn player Vigor) and Paul Krasinski down low. But key defensive stands kept Brown from ever getting within four points of the Quakers thereafter. Penn was able to put 37 points on the board in the second half, despite a poor night shooting from the floor (17-for-50). Much of that was due to Penn's success from the charity stripe (15-for 23, including 12-for 16 in the second half ). "I think they got to the foul line -- that was the main difference," Brown coach Frank "Happy" Dobbs said. "They shot 16 in the second half and that helps when you're not shooting well." The night before, Penn also struggled early. The Elis ran off to a 13-4 advantage in the opening minutes. But the Quakers' defense was stingy the rest of the way allowing just eight points in the last 14 minutes of the first half and rolled to a 70-54 win at the John J. Lee Ampitheater. "We didn't come out too well in the first half," said Romanczuk, who had a career-best 19 points in the game. "They were pumping the ball inside to me, looking to me. I guess they're starting to have a little more confidence in the inside game now that we've entered Ivy League season." Five of Romanczuk's points came from the foul line, where Penn was even more efficient than against Brown. Against Yale, the Quakers shot 21-for 23, a cool 91 percent. "I guess we're concentrating a little bit more, maybe not exactly in practice, but on our own after practice," Romanczuk said of foul shooting, a thorn in the side of last year's Penn squad. Always leading by 7-to-15 points, Penn coasted in the second half, getting solid contributions from guards Michael Jordan (13 points) and Garett Kreitz (10 points). Meanwhile, Yale was unable to find the touch from outside. As a team they made just three three-pointers and shot 39 percent from the field. While the weekend could have gone more smoothly, Dunphy had nothing to complain about. After all, these two wins were one better than Penn managed a year before on the same trip. And with Penn's Palestra prowess, a 34-game conference winning streak dating back to 1992, the Quakers are on course to join the Ivy title hunt. "Overall, I couldn't be happier -- honestly," Dunphy said. "We're 2-0 in the league and that's what you hope to do when you're on the road."