NEW YORK -- The Penn basketball team proved that it doesn't have to dominate opponents to win. After a thrilling double-overtime victory over St. John's the night before, the Quakers hung on to defeat Manhattan, 49-47, in the championship game of the Dreyfus Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
Junior guard Tim Begley scored the game-winning shot, an off-balance jumper with the shot clock nearly at zero, to give the Quakers (5-4) a 49-47 lead with 42 seconds left.
The Jaspers (5-3) had several opportunities to send the game into overtime, but could not find the basket on four attempts, two of which by senior guard and two-time Dreyfus Holiday Festival MVP Luis Flores.
As Manhattan's last shot bounced away from the backboard among a swarm of players, the Quakers raised their arms in triumph as the buzzer sounded.
"When history is charted here, they're going to say, '2003, the University of Pennsylvania was the champion of the Holiday Festival,'" Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "We feel very proud of that, this is a phenomenal tournament... and it's New York City, a great spot."
Penn senior swingman Jeff Schiffner was selected as the tournament MVP, despite scoring only four points on 1-for-12 shooting. Schiffner hit the game-winning shot in the lane with less than a second left in Penn's 63-61 double-overtime victory the night before. His biggest basket last night gave Penn its largest lead, 38-21, with 13:48 remaining.
But the Jaspers made a furious second-half rally, as Flores hit three consecutive threes to culminate a 13-0 run that brought them within four points of the Quakers with 9:40 to go.
Manhattan tied the game at 45 on a layup by Flores with 3:47 to play, but would never regain the lead. After starting out the game with a 13-3 run, the Manhattan offense went ice cold, scoring only two points in the final 14 minutes of the first half.
The Red and Blue answered with 17 straight points, en route to a 25-2 run that gave them a 28-15 halftime lead.
Begley, who led Penn with 13 points and added five rebounds, was named to the All-Tournament team. He was the only Penn scorer in double digits for both games of the tournament.
Freshman Mark Zoller had a career night for the Quakers, finishing the game with 12 points and eight boards in just his second start for the Red and Blue.
Manhattan, which had won the Holiday Festival for the past two years, was plagued with foul trouble for most of the second half. They are currently 0-2 against Ivy League teams in the last five years under head coach Bobby Gonzalez.
"I'm a little superstitious... we'll never schedule an Ivy League team again," Gonzalez said. "They're too smart for me, they're playing chess, I'm playing checkers."
Notes: Penn took 21 more free throws than Manhattan (Penn 16-for-27, Manhattan 3-for-6). Manhattan shot only 20 percent from the field (6-for-29) in the first half, 30 percent for the game. Penn shot 35 percent from the game, and shot only 3-for-14 from behind the arc. Penn was 0-for-7 from behind the arc in the second half, the first half all season it did not make a three-point basket.
