An almost-perfect Big 5 day (FINISHED)

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In case you missed it, four of the five Big 5 teams won yesterday -- La Salle beat Xavier, Penn beat Harvard, Temple beat Duquesne and Villanova beat DePaul.

Only Saint Joseph's failed to win, blowing an early lead and losing in heartbreaking fashion at the end of the game to No. 8 George Washington, 64-62.

The near miss of a 5-0 day in the Big 5 got me thinking -- has that ever happened before?

And literally, after hours of research, the answer is yes.

The day was January 16, 1971.

The scoreboard looked like this:
La Salle 91, Western Kentucky 76
Penn 91, Manhattan 68
Saint Joseph's 85, at Davidson 84
Temple 67, at Fordham 66
Villanova 82, at Niagara 79 (2 OTs)

Obviously, there were a few close calls here to let it happen. Also, both city teams that were home -- La Salle and Penn -- played their games that day at the Palestra.

If I find another day like this I will amend this post. But now I need a break.

Update: Drexel, which lost yesterday, may have either beaten Swarthmore or lost to Moravian on 1/16/71 -- none of the school's Web sites or media guides have that information.

Update No. 2:I have finally completed the research. Since Big 5 play began in 1955-56, only on that day in 1971 was there ever a 5-0 mark.

However, before '55-'56, there were four such occasions, including two in one month.

Here they are:
12/11/54
La Salle 76, at Niagara 75, OT
Penn 71, Muhlenberg 52
Temple 59, at Navy 55
St. Joe's 70, at Albright 58
Villanova 76, St. Francis (PA) 71 (Palestra)

2/28/53
La Salle 94, Youngstown 41 (at SJU)
Penn 76, Harvard 59
Temple 62, Manhattan 57 (at SJU)
St. Joe's 79 at Muhlenberg 61
Villanova 62, Le Moyne 57 (Palestra)

2/4/53
La Salle 73 at Loyola (Md.) 61
Penn 63, Columbia 56
Temple 82, Delaware 45
St. Joe's 111, Rhode Island 92
Villanova 93, Canisius 80 (Palestra)

12/8/48
La Salle 76, BYU 54
Penn 61, at Swarthmore 44
Temple 82, Bucknell 40
St. Joe's 63, West Chester 41
Villanova 64, St. Francis (NY) 48