Round one to Penn

The raucous Palestra was silent for only one second all night. Penn had just regained the lead at 43-40 with six minutes and 20 seconds to go in the second half. Spencer Gloger, Princeton's leading scorer, took a deep three from straightaway. The crowd thought it was true. It was not. On the ensuing rebound, Penn's Jeff Schiffner got an open three-pointer from the left elbow in transition and capitalized. The Penn faithful exploded as the three put the Quakers on top, 46-40. The Tigers would never get that close again, as Penn won, 65-55, in the highly anticipated clash of Ivy League unbeatans. Princeton (10-8, 4-1 Ivy) would never recover in large part because of the superlative effort down the stretch of senior forward Ugonna Onyekwe. Following the three by Schiffner, Onyekwe hit a free throw and then put an exclamation point on the win with a two-handed slam dunk with 5:21 remaining -- the points put Penn (13-5, 5-0) ahead, 49-40. The face of the normally stoic big man -- who finished with 22 points on 9-for-17 shooting -- snarled with emotion after the play. Onyekwe scored on another two-handed dunk to give Penn a 53-41 advantage and responded to a Konrad Wysocki three with another short jumper to put Penn up nine. "He just said, 'I want the ball' and when he got it, he did something real positive with it each and every time," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "It's Penn-Princeton," Onyekwe said. "I definitely got up a little more for this game." It was an emotional night for both victorious and vanquished. "I really have no explanation for it," a visibly upset Gloger said of his 3-for-14 night from the field. He finished with 12 points in the game. The Quakers started off the night hot from the field, running the offense through Onyekwe and getting open shots as a result of Princeton having to double down. Sophomore guard Tim Begley and Schiffner each took advantage, hitting early threes to stake Penn to a 14-12 lead. Begley also took a page from the Princeton playbook getting open for a backdoor layup on a bullet pass from Toole. However Princeton hung tight throughout much of the first half. Guard Ed Persia hit a pair of three-pointers -- one an unbelievable double clutch with no time on the shot clock to give Princeton the lead at 5-4. Those threes were two of only six field goals Princeton had at halftime, as Penn went into the intermission leading 27-19. Penn was unable to capitalize on Princeton's offensive woes as, after the opening minutes, Onyekwe was doubled more consistently and the Quakers' offense slowed. Gloger and Penn forward Koko Archibong were both scoreless in a sloppy offensive first half. Princeton rallied after the break when Archibong left the floor with his third foul just over two minutes into the second half -- he would eventually foul out with no points. At that point Penn was leading, 31-21, but the Tigers, aided by Penn turnovers on four straight possessions, went on an 11-2 run. Gloger hit two free throws and a long three, center Konrad Wysocki scored a driving layup and Kyle Wente scored a breakaway layup to narrow Penn's lead to 33-30. Wysocki then scored a basket and was fouled -- letting out a primal scream on the floor -- to bring Princeton within one. He would miss the ensuing free throw. The game went back and forth with each team holding no more than a two-point edge before Penn opened a three point lead at 43-40. Gloger then failed to connect and Schiffner -- who finished with 18 points -- did. Onyekwe did not need much more help after that. Surrounded by four guards after Archibong fouled out, the middle was wide-open for the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year. "He definitely hurt us," Princeton coach John Thompson III said. "We had scrapped and fought and got back into it. We needed a couple better offensive possessions." Actually, had Gloger made his three, Princeton might have only needed one better possession.

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