Breaking sports: Three-peat!

This is just the way it was supposed to happen for Penn's seniors.

On their home floor, Ibrahim Jaaber, Mark Zoller and Stephen Danley led the Quakers to an 86-58 victory over Yale last night to clinch a third straight Ivy League title and NCAA Tournament berth, and avenge their lone conference blemish of the season, a nine-point loss in New Haven a month ago.

As each player took their piece of the net, and Jaaber took a seat in the cylinder of the home basket, the reality of the moment was still setting in.

"I was dizzy up there," Jaaber said. "I've never been that high before."

But in the wake of such a decisive, even-handed and hard-fought battle, Penn has to be on top of the world.

Every single thing Penn had done well throughout the season, they did last night. Zoller was the typical dominant force in the paint, going off for 22 points and a season-high 17 rebounds. Jaaber led the offense like a true point guard to the tune of 13 points and seven assists. And Danley, despite playing just 16 minutes due to foul trouble, poured in 11 points and was a perfect 5-5 from the field.

But most important of all, there was a palpable sense of desire in each and every possession, on both ends of the floor. The Quakers chased down rebounds - winning the battle on the glass 45-22 - they dove for loose balls and they shut down the Elis offense, holding them to just over 35 percent from the floor.

"I knew they were ready," said coach Glen Miller, who will be going to his first Division-I NCAA Tournament as a head coach. "They played their hearts out right from the time they threw the ball up."

This was a marked change from the Penn-Yale game earlier this year, where the Elis outhustled and outplayed the Quakers. This time around, Penn was ready to take the firepower out of the Elis' arsenal.

Point guard Eric Flato scored just 11 points on 4-12 from the field and turned the ball over five times. And super-athlete Casey Hughes, who torched the Quakers for 15 points and 13 rebounds last time, was virtually a non-factor. The swingman was held to four points and turned committed three turnovers in just 19 minutes of play.

"We wanted to take him out [of] the game as best we could," Zoller said.

Last night, this seemed to be a recurring theme- the way it controlled the game, Penn seemed to be able to do anything it wanted.

The Quakers controlled the inside, outscoring Yale 42-26 in the paint and 24-8 on second-chance opportunities. This was due largely to a career game Brennan Votel, who scored 10 points and corralled six rebounds, five of which were offensive. And Penn also dominated from beyond the arc - netting seven of fifteen trifectas - and on the break, where Jaaber once again used his quick hands and savvy to stretch the Elis' transition defense, and boost Penn's.

It was a familiar game plan, but for his new coach, it hasn't gotten old yet.

"The best compliment I can give him-you know he's a great player-but he's got a terrific attitude and approach," Miller said. "All the credit goes to him."

Well, about half of it, anyway.

When the focus shifted away from the team and onto Jaaber and Zoller, the top two Ivy Player of the Year contenders, the two stars' opinions on the race fit perfectly with the theme of the night: they sheepishly identified each other as the most worthy candidate.

While Jaaber and Zoller wanted to deflect the spotlight a little bit, there's no denying that the real Senior Night for the veteran trio was last night. As Ivy championships go, this group saved the best for last.

"I think it is the most special one," Zoller said. "Senior year, it's just that much sweeter."

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