PRINCETON, N.J. -- What better way for Penn to cap off its Ivy League championship season than with a win at rival Princeton?
That's exactly what the Quakers (20-8, 13-1 Ivy) did on March 8, topping the Tigers, 64-56, at Jadwin Gymnasium. The victory gave Penn a season sweep over Princeton (15-13, 6-8), after the Red and Blue won a 70-62 overtime thriller earlier in the year.
The win was a special one for Penn's seniors, who finished their careers with a 7-1 record against their Ivy rivals.
Quakers guard and Ivy League Player of the Year Tim Begley noted that a win at Jadwin -- a place where he never lost a collegiate game -- is always special.
"I wanted to come to Princeton pretty much all through my high school career," he said. "And I could have told you pretty much little or nothing about Penn before coach Dunphy called the house a couple times ... I have a ridiculous amount of respect for this program. There are emotions involved when you play here."
Four players for the Quakers scored in double digits -- Steve Danley (13 points), Ibby Jaaber (13), Jan Fikiel (12) and Begley (10).
The loss gave the Tigers their first ever season with a losing record in Ivy League play.
March 5 was Senior Night at the Palestra, but it was a sophomore and a freshman that stole the show in the Quakers' home finale.
Forward Mark Zoller had 19 points, 13 in the second half, to lead Penn to an 85-68 win over Harvard, while freshman guard David Whitehurst, making his fourth consecutive start, had 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 4-of-5 from three-point range.
Whitehurst also said that the playing time -- the Harvard game being his fourth straight start -- gave him "great experience."
The Quakers jumped out to a big early lead, but Harvard battled back on multiple occasions to cut the deficit to as few as seven with with 8:30 left in the game. The Quakers answered, though, allowing only seven points after that and cruising to the victory.
Senior guard Tim Begley had 11 points in his final Palestra game.
Begley and fellow seniors Eric Heil, Nameir Majette and Jan Fikiel were honored before the game and Heil and Majette made their first collegiate starts.
"It's nice to have so many people who I care about be in here right now," Begley said of having his family and supporters from his hometown of Freehold, N.J., in the crowd.
Majette had four points including a thunderous dunk in his five minutes of action.
After the game the Quakers cut down the nets in celebration of their 23rd Ivy League title and 21st trip to the NCAA Tournament. They also received the Ivy League championship trophy before the game.
Earlier last Saturday former Quakers star Andy Toole (2003) led the blue team to an 81-75 victory over Matt Langel's red team in the annual alumni game at the Palestra.
After the game he discussed this year's squad's chances.
"They probably guard as well as any of coach Dunphy's teams."
But when asked whether the last Quakers team to make the Tournament -- when Toole was a senior -- could beat this year's team, he said, "Definitely. No doubt about it. They couldn't handle us on the inside, and we would have shut Begley down. Begley vs. Begley would have been a tough matchup but they wouldn't have been able to handle us."
If anyone thought Penn would kick off its final three-game stretch by taking it easy against a historically futile Dartmouth team, the 64-37 drubbing of the Big Green on March 4 should should have been enough to convince them otherwise.
The Quakers built a comfortable lead in the first half and held a hapless Dartmouth squad to just one field goal for the first 12 minutes.
As Penn prepared to say goodbye to the class of 2005 in the seniors' penultimate game at the Palestra, sophomore Ibby Jaaber stole the spotlight, again. The 6-foot-2 guard snagged nine steals on the night to give him 80 for the season -- a new Ivy League record.
Sophomore Mark Zoller led the way for Penn with 14 points and nine rebounds. Both the 6-7 forward and teammate Ryan Pettinella had little trouble establishing themselves inside against a tall, but less athletic Dartmouth frontcourt.
The Big Green, who finished 10-16 overall and 7-7 in Ivy play, had no answer for Penn's aggressiveness, as the Quakers compiled a 44-19 rebounding edge.
David Burrick, Josh Hirsch and Jeff Shafer contributed to this report.
