Seniors shine on Senior Night

On a night when the Penn men's basketball team honored its seniors for their service to the program, it was only appropriate that the team's biggest standouts were those closest to graduation. Paul Romanczuk and Jed Ryan said goodbye to the Palestra on Saturday by carrying the Quakers to victory over a Cornell squad that was playing the game of its life and hoping to pull off an upset over the first-place Quakers. Both senior tri-captains kept the Quakers in the game by making huge plays when Penn needed them most. With the Red and Blue trailing by 10 at the half, Ryan and Romanczuk had just 20 minutes of game time before they would walk off the Palestra floor in a Penn uniform for the last time. And the two 6'7" forwards made the most of those 20 minutes. As the Quakers struggled to close the gap in the second half, Ryan took it upon himself to put Penn back in the game. Cornell had been burying three-pointers all night, so Ryan -- who ranks fourth in Penn history with 144 career treys -- decided to show off his own shooting touch. "I was impressed by that one stretch of Jed's," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "He just said, 'I'm taking this shot. I'm making it and here's the deal.' That was just nice to see." During that stretch Ryan nailed treys on three consecutive trips down the floor, cutting Cornell's lead from 10 points to three. Ryan went on to score 15 points in the second half and finished the night with 21. With Romanczuk scoring 20 and Michael Jordan putting 21 on the board, Saturday night was the first time since February 10, 1990 that Penn had three players score 20 points in the same game. If there ever was a night when the Quakers needed performances like this from its team leaders, it was Saturday. Throughout the season, Penn has maintained incredible balance in its scoring, with Geoff Owens -- at 9.0 points per game -- the only starter not averaging double figures. But with Owens seeing reduced time due to his fractured jaw and Matt Langel in the midst of a three-game cold spell, Penn needed its tri-captains to carry the weight of the scoring. Romanczuk and Ryan refused to end their Palestra careers with a loss. A loss by the Ivy League leaders to a mediocre Big Red squad would simply be unacceptable and the senior forwards made sure it would not happen. "Total confidence has to rush through your head when you're in that situation and I'm glad all our guys fought through it," Romanczuk said. Nobody on the floor, however, was fighting harder than Romanczuk. In addition to his 20 points, the West Chester, Pa., native pulled down 12 rebounds and displayed his usual toughness in the low post. "Romanczuk just works so hard," Cornell coach Scott Thompson said. "I love that about him." However, Thompson probably wasn't loving it as time was running out for his Cornell squad. With 11.9 seconds left in the game and Penn clinging to a 80-79 lead, Owens was at the foul line. The center sank his first attempt to increase Penn's lead to two, but he missed his second shot. Not about to give Cornell a chance to score, Romanczuk slapped the ball to Jordan, who was immediately fouled. With Penn now up two points and looking to put the game out of reach, Dunphy left Romanczuk in position to rebound and sent the other three Quakers back on defense. Jordan missed both free throws, but as the second shot bounced off the rim, Romanczuk spun around his man to the other side and grabbed the rebound in the middle of four red jerseys. It may have been the most important rebound of the season. Romanczuk passed it to Ryan, who was fouled to stop the clock. Ryan rose to the occasion just as Romanczuk had, calmly making both foul shots to ice the game for the Quakers. Seconds later, the buzzer sounded and Ryan and Romanczuk finished the last home game of their careers -- but not before they lifted their squad to a needed victory and kept Penn's one-game advantage in the Ivy League standings. "It was great for Paul and I to be able to pull it out there at the end and do some good things and get out of here with a win," Ryan said. "March Madness has struck. We almost got caught up in it and it was a great game." And a great way for Ryan and Romanczuk to celebrate Senior Night.