Quakers hold off Big Red threat

Two more wins for the Penn men's basketball team, but just barely. After Penn's 87-48 drubbing of Columbia on Friday, senior forward Paul Romanczuk eagerly anticipated his final Palestra appearance, which would come the following day. "It will be special tomorrow," he said. If only he knew. Unlike the previous night, Penn -- a 19-point favorite -- needed Jed Ryan's sharpshooting and Romanczuk's inside dominance to avoid disaster and squeak by Cornell 83-81. Penn's sixth Ivy League weekend sweep of the season clinched at least a share of the Ivy League title for the Quakers. Penn (20-5, 12-1 Ivy League) has a one-game lead on Princeton (20-6, 11-2) with one game remaining -- tomorrow's showdown at Jadwin Gymnasium. Since losing to the Tigers on February 9, the Quakers have won six consecutive Ivy League games, putting themselves in position to earn their first NCAA bid in four years. Not even last weekend's 81-76 win at Harvard was as down to the wire as Saturday night's contest with Cornell (11-5, 6-8). After a sluggish start on Senior Night that saw the Quakers trail by as many as five early, before Penn took its first lead of the game at 16-14. After trading baskets, Penn led 18-16, but then Cornell caught fire from behind the arc. Cornell closed out the half on a 24-12 run thanks to six three-pointers, including three from sophomore forward Ray Mercedes. "We needed to come in and have a good shooting night, especially after last night's game [against Princeton]," Cornell coach Scott Thompson said. "When Ray Mercedes is focused, he's a very good player, and he was into it tonight." Mercedes, who had a mere .292 three-point shooting percentage entering the weekend, had a season-high night, hitting 6-of-10 from downtown en route to a 28-point performance. Mercedes continued to pose a scoring threat in the second half, with 12 points, but it was Ryan who stole the show with his frenzy of treys. Down 52-42 with over 13 minutes left in the game, Ryan hit a shot that cut the lead to single digits, and that was only the beginning. In each of the Quakers' next three possessions, Ryan drained three pointers to cut Penn's deficit down to four points. The game went back and forth for the next nine minutes, with three tied scores and two lead changes. With 1:33 remaining, sophomore guard Kevin Cuttica hit a trey to increase Cornell's lead to 79-75. The shot was immediately matched by Penn junior guard Michael Jordan's three-pointer which cut the Big Red's lead back to one. A blocked shot by junior center Geoff Owens gave the ball back to the Quakers. Jordan, who finished the night with 21 points, was fouled during the ensuing possession and hit both free throws to put Penn up 80-79. After Cornell came up empty again, Owens was fouled and went to the line shooting two. Then it was Romanczuk who proved to be unstoppable. After making his first free throw, Owens missed the second, but Romanczuk grabbed the offensive rebound and kicked it out to Jordan, who was fouled to stop the clock. With a two-point lead and 9.5 seconds left on the clock, Penn now had an opportunity to make it a two-possession game. Jordan, however, was unable to capitalize, missing both free throws. But Romanczuk came down with the rebound yet again. "I think the rebounding was the difference in the game," Thompson said. "Romanczuk works so hard and I love that about him. Owens did a good job on the boards too. Those two guys did a really good job getting offensive boards." Both Cornell and Penn grabbed 26 defensive rebounds, but Penn outrebounded Cornell 21-6 on the offensive glass. Following Romanczuk's second consecutive offensive rebound, Ryan was fouled when he received the ball. With only 6.9 second remaining, he sunk both shots to give Penn a 83-79 lead, effectively icing the game. "They were playing with a lot of emotion but we matched it at the right times," Ryan said. "It was great for Paul and I to pull it out at the end and get out of here with a win tonight." Ryan scored 21 in the Quakers' 12th Ivy League win of the season. Romanczuk broke the 20-point barrier as well, recording his fifth double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds. In stark contrast to Saturday's barnburner, Friday night's contest against Columbia (10-16, 5-9) was anything but classic. Thanks to senior forward Justin Namolik's 11 first-half points and senior guard Gary Raimondo's 10 points and four steals, the Lions were able to stay within striking distance and only trailed 38-29 at the half. Once the second half started, it was all downhill for Columbia. Led by sophomore guard Lamar Plummer's nine second-half points, Penn outscored the Lions 49-19 in the second half, giving the Quakers a 87-48 victory -- their largest margin of victory on the season. In fact, the Quakers' five losses have been by a combined total of 38 points, which is one less than the margin of Columbia's loss on Friday night alone. The most significant moment of the second half came when Owens blocked his 52nd shot of the season. That rejection broke Penn's record for blocks in a season, which was set by Hassan Duncombe in 1988-89. "[Owens is] probably the best shot blocker I've ever played with," Romanczuk said. "He's such a good defensive presence. With him in there we can gamble a little bit, maybe go for a steal here or there." "He's a terrific kid and I'm not surprised at anything he accomplishes at this point," Penn coach Fran Dunphy added. Featuring one massacre and one nail-biter, the only similarity between this weekend's games was that Penn won both. After winning a memorable home finale on Senior Night, the seniors only unfinished business is earning their first NCAA bid. They'll get their chance tomorrow night.

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