Quakers shut down Cornell at Palestra

Senior Jeff Schiffner was back to his old self as Penn rolled past Cornell, 84-69, to stay alive in the Ivy title chase.

The 6-foot-6 guard logged 24 points – including 6 three-pointers – on the night to lead the Quakers. With a little less than three minutes remaining in the first half, freshman Ibby Jaaber fed Schiffner the ball on the right wing for a catch-and-shoot three to put Penn ahead, 28-25.

A layup from senior Adam Chubb capped a 15-1 Penn run to close out the half, giving the Red and Blue the advantage, 34-26, at the break.

The Quakers (14-9, 7-3 Ivy) gave back the lead early in the second half, as junior Eric Taylor put the Big Red (11-13, 6-5) on top, 37-36, with a layup at the 16-minute mark.

Chubb answered back with a jump shot, and the two teams traded leads until freshman Steve Danley made a layup and drew a foul from Cornell’s Lenny Collins. The basket sparked a 17-1 Quakers spurt which included triples from Charlie Copp, Schiffner and Jaaber to put the game away.

“We picked our momentum up and the game was a little more fast-paced,” Jaaber said. “We picked it up on the defensive end. We got a couple of outlets and fast-break points off of that.”

Penn held Ka’Ron Barnes -- the Ancient Eight’s leading scorer with 21.1 points per game – to just 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting.

“They did a great job tonight on defense, especially Copp and Jaaber,” Barnes said. “The did a good job of denying me the ball.”

In addition to not having opportunities to make shots, Barnes was also plagued by seven turnovers.

“He’s used to having the ball in his hands so much,” Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. “Now I think he wasn’t his normal self when he had his opportunities tonight – that’s the seven turnovers that you see.”

Schiffner rebounded from an uncharacteristic 13 combined points last weekend with 16 in the first half alone.

“He got free a couple times tonight where maybe he didn’t last weekend and he took advantage of it,” Dunphy said. “When he did get a good look he knocked it down.”

Jaaber tied a career-high 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting. The 6-2 freshman also recorded four steals to create opportunities for the offense.

“He’s got good poise for a freshman,” Dunphy said. “If we’re not running our offense real smoothly, it’s nice to have somebody who can break the defense down, and that’s one of the things he can do. He creates such havoc defensively with getting his hands on balls so he gets some easy baskets.”

Copp and junior Tim Begley recorded 14 and 13 points, respectively for the Red and Blue.

Taylor led the way for Cornell with 17 points and five rebounds. Collins notched 13 points and 12 rebounds.

NOTES: Donahue – a former Penn assistant coach – remains winless against his old team. The Big Red have not defeated Penn at the Palestra since a 65-61 win on Feb. 25, 1989.

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