Penn wins Ivy League title

It was an exclamation point for one of the all-time greats to ever grace the Palestra floor, and it ended any doubt that once again the Penn men's basketball team is going dancing. With 1:35 remaining in Saturday night's game against Cornell, senior forward Ugonna Onyekwe, one of six seniors to be honored in the last home game of their Penn careers, threw down a reverse dunk that gave the Quakers a 65-49 lead and ended a tense few minutes in which a Cornell comeback seemed feasible. Penn (21- 5, 13-0 Ivy League) won 69-52, and thereby clinched their second straight Ivy League title and a trip to the NCAA Tournaments. The final points for the Quakers were scored by crowd favorites Andrew Coates and Duane King, little used seniors who received the start in the spirit of senior night. Penn started slowly using the all-senior lineup, in which senior Andrew Toole sat out in favor of fellow senior David Klatsky, not scoring until the regular lineup was reinserted and over four minutes had elapsed. However, Cornell (9-18, 4-10) was unable to capitalize on the Quakers slow start, only building a 4-0 lead. The underclassmen starters, Jeff Schiffner and Tim Begley scored 12 of Penn's first 15 points as the Quakers built a 15-6 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half. The Big Red closed to within 19-14 after an Eric Taylor tip-in with 6:55 to go in the half. A nice feed from Onyekwe to Adam Chubb for a layup and a three pointer by Toole reestablished a double figure lead that Penn would enjoy for the rest of the game. Toole would finish the game with 13 points despite just playing 17 minutes. Begley and Onyekwe also had 13 points for Penn. Despite Penn's double-digit lead, the game never became a laugher, in large part due to Cornell guard Ka'Ron Barnes. The junior scored 21 points on 7-for- 16 shooting and made things interesting in the second half when he cut a 21 point Penn lead in the second half to 13 with five minutes still to play. However, Toole always had an answer for Penn. When Cornell cut the lead to 13, Toole hit a three to push Penn's lead to 61-45. With 3:39 to play and Penn up 61-49, Toole hit a tough runner in the lane to give Penn a 14 point lead. Onyekwe's dunk two minutes later assured Penn's victory and their place in the tournament. "[Toole] made a couple of big baskets in the first half and a couple of really big ones in the second half," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. All that remains in the regular season is a road game against Princeton, in a game that, unusually, has no significance on the Ivy title. "It's different, but a good kind of different," Dunphy said of clinching before Princeton. "I'm grateful for it." Penn will likely find itself as a No. 12 or 13 seed in the tournament when seeds and playing locations are announced Sunday. But the low seeding does not mean that this group is in for a one-and-done according to an opponent who knows them well. "This is the most talented team, by far, that Penn's ever had," said Cornell coach and former Penn assistant Steve Donahue. "I think they can do some damage in the tournament," Donahue added "I really do."

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