Hold on, the Ivy League men's basketball title race isn't over just yet.
On a day that the nation's mid-major teams competed in Bracket Buster Saturday, Penn's chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament bracket as early as next weekend were busted down a notch after a 78-60 loss to Yale in New Haven, Conn., Saturday night.
The Elis (9-12, 5-3 Ivy) were able to control the tempo from the beginning of the game, as they snapped the Quakers' 11-game winning streak and handed Penn its first Ivy loss of the season.
After sweeping the Penn-Princeton weekend for only the fifth time in its history, Yale now sits two-and-a-half games behind the Quakers in the standings.
From the outset, Yale made sure that its rematch with the Quakers would not be a repeat of Penn's 65-41 thrashing at the Palestra four weeks ago.
"I think Yale played a great basketball game," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "It's a much different basketball team than we faced a few weeks ago, and we knew that going in, so we were ready to go with that thought."
But the Quakers (15-8, 8-1) never seemed to get their offense going and appeared outhustled on both ends of the floor against a hungrier Yale squad.
After a see-saw game in the first half, the Elis rallied behind their boisterous home crowd and took control of the game in the second to finish with the largest margin of victory over Penn in an Ivy game since the 1997-98 season.
"This is probably the best we've played in a long time," Yale coach James Jones said. "I'm just so proud of the guys, and so comfortable with the fact that I know that if we get into a pinch, one of these guys is going to step up and make a play."
The Elis made plays, especially in the first half, as a 16-9 Penn lead quickly became a 24-23 Yale lead with 5:55 remaining -- a lead they would never relinquish.
After Penn sophomore Ibby Jaaber's free throws cut the lead to 43-41 with 14:19 remaining, the Elis went on a 21-7 run to take a commanding 64-48 lead with just over four minutes to play.
During the run, the Quakers' offense, which had dominated Ivy opponents in the second half this season, went cold.
Instead it was the Elis -- led by senior guard Edwin Draughan -- who looked like the first-place team. Yale outmuscled the Quakers for offensive rebounds, finishing with a 42-33 edge on the glass.
"We got behind a little in the second half and I think Edwin Draughan hit some huge shots for them," Begley said. "They just built a nice lead and we didn't have an answer for him tonight."
But the most surprising statistic at the end of the night was the amount of points tallied by Begley, Penn's leading scorer. -- zero.
Draughan was able to hold Begley to his first scoreless game since his sophomore season, as Penn's go-to-guy went 0-for-6 from the field Saturday.
Yale's stifling defense on Penn's captain was similar to the Elis' work on former Quakers guard Jeff Schffner last season.
The Red and Blue did receive a season-high 22 points from sophomore Mark Zoller, as well as 16 points from Jaaber and 10 from Steve Danley.
But without any offense from Begley, the Quakers were unable to counter Yale's 43 second-half points.
Four Elis starters ended up in double figures, with Draughan's 19 points leading the way. Sophomore Sam Kaplan tallied 14 points and eight rebounds.
"This is the pinnacle of the Ivy League, Penn and Princeton. And to sweep them is just an amazing feeling," Draughan said.
