Penn not bowing out of title race

On Friday night, the Penn men's basketball head coach Fran Dunphy notched his 228th victory, becoming the winningest head coach in the program's history.

But it didn't come without a few heart palpitations.

The Quakers wedged themselves into a position that has become more than familiar this season.

Since suffering their third loss to Ancient Eight opponents on Feb. 8 -- the Quakers lost at Yale -- every game for the Red and Blue has been or death.

One more loss, and any hope of a league title would disappear.

And yet the resilient Quakers refuse to fall, and are now on an eight-game winning streak.

As if the must-win pressure isn't enough, Penn continues to work itself into quagmires -- and Friday night's matchup against Columbia was no exception.

Over the past month, the Quakers have found themselves, as they describe it, with their backs pinned against a wall.

That wall only grew thicker as the Red and Blue fell behind, steadily, to the ferocious Lions.

Columbia dominated from early on, dropping a host of three-point baskets that left the Quakers confused and frustrated.

At one point, Penn trailed by 16 and began to pick up foul-after-foul, an error that only exacerbated the problem.

"It was a double back against the wall today," Dunphy said. "With not being able to lose any more games and being down as much as we were the first half."

Much to the chagrin of the Lions, the Quakers did what they seem to do best this season -- they came back.

Penn waited to stage its coup until the waning seconds of the first half, when junior guard Andrew Toole ran the ball down the court and dished off an unsuspected pass to forward Ugonna Onyekwe.

Onyekwe grabbed the ball and

drove vehemently to the basket, sinking a two-point layup and drawing the foul.

Onyekwe completed the three-point played and sent Penn on its way to another stressful, valiant come-from-behind win.

"The final play of the first half was big," Dunphy said. "Somehow Ugonna found himself open and Andy made a nice play. It was a momentum turner."

The opening minutes of the second half the Quakers were completely changed, responding, as they always seem to do, to the must-win pressure.

"We still had a whole half and we used it," Toole said. "We had a chance to get back in the game and we did. We wish we could have started out a little bit better. Thankfully, we were able to pick it up in the second half."

With the help of a 20-2 run, the Red and Blue tied the contest at 37 with 14:38 to play, when Begley hit his only three-pointer of the night.

Although the Quakers were never able to completely shake off the pesky Lions, the game from then on was in their own hands.

And masterfully, Penn was able to once again turn a doubtful situation in their favor.

This week, the Quakers must win in order to keep their NCAA tournament aspirations alive. At this rate, it will take a tough team to outlast the Red and Blue's unforgiving endurance.

"Somehow, someway these guys got it back together again," Dunphy said. "I hope this is their personality. When their backs are against the wall, they know how to respond.

"We'll take it and run and live for another day."

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