M. Hoops sweeps another pair off the Palestra floor

The men's basketball team sent Dartmouth and Harvard returning home without a win. Despite knowing they would need another team's help to catch Princeton in the race for the Ivy League title, the men's basketball team (16-10, 9-2 Ivy League) kept its concentration on its own court this past weekend, defeating two Ivy League teams, Dartmouth (6-18, 3-9 Ivy) and Harvard (11-13, 4-8). The weekend sweep rebounded Penn from last Tuesday night's defeat to league-leading Princeton, which all but mathematically eliminated the Quakers from the league title hunt. The two weekend wins left the Quakers two games behind Princeton with three games remaining on each team's schedule. "This is an opportunity for us to play good basketball against league teams that want to come in here and beat us," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "If we had beaten Princeton maybe there could have been cause for a let down, but there should have been no thoughts of a let down. We should finish this season up as strong as we can." Against Harvard Saturday night, junior Paul Romanczuk scored 20 points and added another 10 rebounds for the Quakers in their 77-67 victory. After a highly contested first half, Penn pulled away in the second, never allowing Harvard to come within 10 points in the final 10 minutes of the game. The visiting Crimson started the evening by going up 28-17 with 8 minutes 45 seconds left in the first half. After a timeout, Jed Ryan hit a three-point shot, sparking the Quakers to a 20-5 run and a 37-34 halftime lead. "I have no recollection as to what I said other than we obviously have to tighten things up," Dunphy said. "In the first 12 possessions they had 10 scores. Out of the last 20 possessions in the half we stopped them 15 times." In the second half, it was a Ryan three-pointer again leading the way as Penn put the Harvard out of reach with a 13-2 charge that left Harvard with a 62-45 deficit with less than 10 minutes left. Harvard's final effort cut the lead to 10 with less than two minutes left, but Penn's precise passing kept the Crimson out of reach. The Quakers' ball movement led to assists on 21 out of the 27 field goals made. "Our offensive efficiency was pretty good," Dunphy said. "When we are moving the ball we can get pretty decent looks at the basket." Shooting over 55 percent from the field and 10-of-22 from behind the arc, Penn capitalized on their open looks at the basket. Improving their season averages, Matt Langel, Garett Kreitz, Ryan and Romanczuk ended in double digits in scoring for Penn. Romanczuk's play was especially stellar this weekend, combining for 36 points and 14 rebounds. "The ball has just been coming down there," Romanczuk said. "I owe a lot of it to coach Dunphy's philosophy of inside-out and the perimeter guys getting me the ball in there. Maybe I am maturing a little bit and learning how to score in there as an undersized postman." Forward Paul Fisher had a big night for Harvard, scoring a career high 26 points and bringing down seven rebounds. The Crimson's Mike Scott added outside pressure, shooting 3-of-5 from three-point range in the first half and ending with 21 points. "I thought Fisher was terrific tonight," Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. "I thought we were able to get the ball to him on a number of occasions. I thought he played as well as any big many in the Ivy League for these 40 minutes." The anticipated fierce match-up between Penn's Michael Jordan and Harvard's Tim Hill finished in a surprising manner. Coming into the game, Jordan averaged 16 points a contest, while Hill scored 14.6 points a game. At the end of the night Hill had only six points, while Jordan finished with two, including 0-for-1 from the floor. Both still made major contributions to their teams, however, as Hill had eight assists while Jordan contributed seven. "I always think their match-up is a special one," Sullivan said. "It is good to see each of them go at each other and take the disposition that they really want to challenge each other. Michael may not have had the numbers, but his presence there and his quickness causes rotations." In the 66-50 win over Dartmouth Friday night, the Quakers came out hesitant with the Princeton loss still on their shoulder. Down by five points only five minutes into the game, Penn guards' Langel, Jordan and Kreitz answered with 13 out of the Quakers' next 15 points. Penn closed out the half by outscoring Dartmouth by 11 and leaving them scoreless in the last 5 minutes of the half, taking a 29-17 lead. Forward Shaun Gee was the Big Green's only presence on the floor, scoring more than half of his team's points. "The game was changed when they tightened their defense," Dartmouth coach Dave Faucher said. "It really took our backcourt out in the first half. We didn't adjust to using the space to going to the post-ups. We weren't waiting for our screens. We just didn't react well to their pressure." In the second half, the two teams traded baskets as Dartmouth was unable to make up any ground until just over five minutes left when Dartmouth's Gee scored on a lay-up while being fouled by Kreitz. After making his free throw attempt, Gee and the Big Green found themselves down by nine. The Quakers closed the door with Romanczuk, Langel and Mike Sullivan hitting 5-of-6 from the line. After missing four out of his five shots in the half, Langel ended the 8-0 run with a three-point shot to give Penn a 60-43 lead with two minutes left in the game. "You have to keep your head in it, keep shooting the shots and not hang you head at all," Langel said. "They are going to go in eventually." Although Gee scored 18 points on the night, the damage could have been worse if not for Penn's Sullivan. Used in defensive situations, Sullivan helped keep Gee to 8-of-19 from the floor including 1-of-4 from three-point range. Sullivan also made himself an offensive presence, chipping in six points in only 16 minutes. "I knew my role going in was just to play defense against Gee," Sullivan said. "He is a bigger, stronger guy, and I match up pretty well with him." Romanczuk had another big game with 16 points and four rebounds while Langel added 14 points and six rebounds. After scoring four points in the first six minutes of the game, Kreitz failed again to connect with the basket but did set a season high with five assists. Jordan also added 13 points and four assists was again plagued by turnovers, accounting for seven out of the team's total of 12. "His concentration sometimes wanes, I think," Dunphy said. "He has got to do better than that. If I am Michael, I have to say it is my fault and take the responsibility for that. He is an outstanding basketball player, but his choices have to get better." Dartmouth's Asa Palmer keyed the Big Green's run in the second half, scoring 10 out of his 12 on the night. Guard P.J. Halas failed to feel welcomed as Jordan held the Big Green guard to only four points, shooting 0-of-4 from behind the arc. "We ask a lot of P.J.," Faucher said. "He had a couple of good looks that usually go down, but they made him work for everything." Although the Quakers had little to prove in beating two mediocre Ivy League teams they had earlier defeated, Penn was able to show themselves and everyone else that they had not given up on this season. The two victories did lock-up second place in the conference, a vast improvement over finishing fourth last year.

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