The Quakers finish their Ivy League run with a perfect 14-0 record

The Penn men's basketball team finished off an unbeaten Ivy League season with three wins over spring break against Columbia, Cornell and Princeton.

Penn 63, Columbia 39

Columbia arrived at the Palestra late last Friday pushing back a 7:00 p.m. tipoff to 7:45.

After committing 16 first half turnovers and scoring only 15 points before the break, since-fired Columbia coach Armond Hill might have wondered why the Lions fought through the traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike at all.

"Anything that can go wrong this year just keeps going wrong," Hill said.

The Quakers (20-5, 12-0) clearly outclassed the Lions on both ends of the floor and won handily, 63-39.

Onyekwe led the Quakers with 14 points and Koko Archibong had 13 on 6-for-7 shooting from the field. Both sat out most of the second half which amounted to little more than extended garbage time.

Penn 69, Cornell 52

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 one minute, 35 seconds remaining in Saturday night's game against Cornell, 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.

The Quakers won, 69-52, and thereby clinched their second straight Ivy League title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Second-place Brown finished 12-2 in conference play.

Little-used seniors Andrew Coates and Duane King received the start in the spirit of senior night and scored the final points of the game, to the delight of the Palestra faithful.

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.

Whenever Cornell got close or gained momentum in the second half, Toole had an answer for Penn. When Cornell cut the lead to 13, Toole hit a three to push Penn's advantage to 61-45. With 3:39 to play and Penn up 61-49, Toole hit a tough runner in the lane to give the Quakers a 14-point lead.

Penn 74, Princeton 67

PRINCETON, N.J. -- In the second half of last Tuesday night's game, Penn could not miss.

The Quakers even made a shot by accident.

With 10:15 remaining, Klatsky threw a what he intended as a lob pass from half-court to a streaking Adam Chubb. Chubb never touched the ball, however -- it went straight through the net. Princeton guard Will Venable gave Klatsky a friendly punch and could only shake his head and chuckle.

It was just one of those days for the Quakers.

Penn shot 73.7-percent from the field, including 6-for-6 from behind-the-arc, in the second half of the 74-67 victory at Princeton's Jadwin Gym.

"Going into this game we wanted this real bad," said Penn junior Jeff Schiffner, who finished the night with 13 points in 40 minutes of play. "We're trying to accomplish these goals as we go along and tonight was another one we wanted."

No matter how accurate the Penn shooting was, Princeton always seemed to find a response, led by guard Ed Persia. The junior finished the night with 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting including the three-pointer that put the Tigers within one with two minutes, twelve seconds remaining.

With the game in its waning moments, Princeton ran its screens for Persia.

Penn's held their own down low against the Tigers' Judson Wallace. Providing what has become an expected 20 points and six rebounds, Onyekwe also dished out three assists.

Archibong was often the victim of Wallace's jump-hook, but after a late Persia three, it was Archibong that responded from distance to put the Quakers back up four. Princeton fought the uphill battle the rest of the way.

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