Final: Penn 48, Princeton 35

Penn 48, Princeton 35: Final
Penn wraps up a win in which the Tigers never led and saw only one tie. Penn goes to 6-1 in the conference, a half-game above 6-2 Yale and 6-2 Cornell. Next up are the Columbia Lions at home Friday and the previously mentioned Big Red Saturday at the Palestra.

Princeton, meanwhile, continues its tailspin, falling to 1-6 in the league and dropping Joe Scott (17-18) under .500 in his Ivy League coaching career.

Penn 43, Princeton 33: 2nd 1:44
The Quakers are eating up huge chunks of shot clock and have the ball with 32 second left to burn on the shot clock. This one's pretty much over, and "The Hey Song" by the Penn Band backs me up on that.

Penn 41, Princeton 31: 2nd 3:46
Jaaber, as he's been doing every game lately, picks a pocket and rocks the Palestra with a fast-break dunk. This time, he went with the two-handed variety. The steals and near-steals are coming fast and furious agaist a tired Princeton backcourt.

Penn 39, Princeton 29: 2nd 5:25
Quakers closing in on sealing this one as a 10-0 run puts the lead in double-digits. It's all come on the inside, including a 5-foot bank shot by Grandieri. Joe Scott has no voice left. Quakers look like they can pound it in there at will. It's just a matter of execution at this point.

Penn 35, Princeton 29: 2nd 6:59
Didn't mean to scare the Penn fans reading. Zoller looks OK, not 100 percent, but OK enough to give Penn a six-point lead with a difficult layup. Penn still having issues boxing out, as Princeton is getting some uncontested offensive boards in the paint.

Princeton shot clock violations: 2

I think we'll censor the next rollout. If you really care, it has to do with Valentine's Day, Princeton's signature offensive play and a double meaning of the sexual variety.

Penn 33, Princeton 29: 2nd 9:06
Zoller appears to be shaking off a pretty good knock on the head and also came up limping after missing a three pointer and hitting the hardwood on the follow-through.

We'll keep you updated on this one.

Penn 33, Princeton 29: 2nd 10:20
A bad switch on Penn's switching defense gives Lincoln Gunn a pair of free throws when Steve Danley has to chase and foul him from behind. Gunn ties the game with a 1-for-2.

Danley redeems himself and gives Penn the lead back with a strong post move on the other end.

Penn 29, Princeton 28: 2nd 11:56
A minute after missing one of said layups, Tommy McMahon misses the front end of a 1-and-1. On the other end, Princeton grabs a huge offensive rebound to set up another chance to take the lead.

The Red and Blue Crew is back for more:
WANTED: Scott Ward, Rafael Robb, a worthy rival.

The timing probably could have been better. This unworthy rival could take the lead on this possession.

Penn 29, Princeton 28: 2nd 12:57
If it's not going to be a pretty game, the least these teams can do is make it a close game for the jacked-up price of $25 a seat. Luke Owings did his part, pulling Princeton to within three with a trey. Justin Conway follows with a layup, and all of a sudden, we have a game on our hands. Penn's three missed layups in the last minute aren't helping.

Penn 29, Princeton 23: 2nd 15:46
Fouls telling an ominous story for the Tigers, who have picked up six of the seven fouls called first four-plus minutes. Zach Finley has three of them.

A fourth rollout comes down, where the author was obviously paid by the word:
Notable 250s. Classes graduated from Penn, sausage, egg and cheese from Bui's, Princeton's RPI.

Penn 29, Princeton 23: 2nd 16:34
Three fouls in the first 73 seconds for Princeton, which appears to be making up for an athletic disadvantage by clutching and grabbing. Steve Danley opens the scoring for Penn with a post-up and lay-in. Perhaps a point of emphasis for Miller at halftime. But a couple of layups for the Tigers keeping them in the game. Man, can this team hang around.

Penn 27, Princeton 19: Halftime
Two free throws put a wrap on Princeton's ninth half under 20 points. The backdoor cut is looking better as we close in on intermission.

Overall, Penn can't be too disappointed with an eight-point lead, although it could have been more. Eight against Princeton is a much safer lead than eight against most teams. Mark Zoller leads all scorers in the half with 11 points. Other notable stat has Princeton shooting 33 percent from the floor in the half.

Penn 25, Princeton 17: 1st 1:42
Joe Scott furious as Mark Zoller gets a three-point play, while those who see the world through orange-and-black-colored glasses look for a travel call.

Marcus Schroeder hearing it from the crowd after the guard talks back to a Penn fan mouthing off. The student section gets the last laugh as Schroeder misses a pair of free-throws. And Schroeder, promptly hooked for an extremely rare breather (he leads the nation in minutes per game), gets an equally emphatically earful from his coach.

Penn 22, Princeton 14: 1st 3:33
Princeton gets an offensive rebound just about the only way they're going to be able to. Ten-plus feet from the basket.

Meanwhile, Penn's transition offense off the turnovers is clicking, and the lead has opened up a bit.

The Red and Blue Crew takes its obligatory Dartmouth shot, noting:
Dartmouth last beat Penn 11 years ago.
Dartmouth last beat Princeton 3 days ago.

Penn 17, Princeton 12: 1st 5:55
Egee brings back memories of the Yale game, missing a pair at the line, bringing the Quakers to 2-for-5 for the day. It may not be today, but someday, that will haunt Penn again. And Justin Conway has to stop shooting threes. It may be the best look of the possession, but at 4-for-28 for the year, it's never a good shot.

Penn 17, Princeton 12: 1st 7:14
If the big guys won't do it, I'll do it. Jaaber, one of the giants compared to the Tigers, goes post-up for an easy deuce. Princeton isn't getting any looks from inside of 15 feet with the exception of a well-executed cut for an easy layup. A Kyle Koncz three keeps it close, but the Quakers got a hand in his face the second time.

Third rollout a little punny. Best one yet.
St. Louis Cardinals: Won in five
Princeton Tigers: One and five

Second media timeout: The rollouts' poetry theme quickly ditched in favor of the politically incorrect.
Autopsy reveals: Anna Nicole Smith died from watching the Princeton offense.

Penn 12, Princeton 7: 1st 11:39
Joe Scott, who presumably did not see that rollout is pretty calm on the Tigers bench. Scott, who's been far from calm in earning technical fouls in the last two visits to the Palestra hasn't said barely a word to the officiating crew.

The Quakers aren't doing much to get the ball inside after the initial few sequences. A bit surprising after the success they had in that department this weekend.

Meanwhile, at the 14:37 mark, Lincoln Gunn ensured that Princeton would exit the night still as one of the three teams in Division I to have hit a three-pointer in every game since the inception of the line in 1986.

Princeton shot clock violation count: 1
Telegraphed back-door passes stolen: 1

Penn 8, Princeton 4: 1st 15:56
Ibrahim Jaaber is having an easy time with Princeton defenders, and the Quakers are getting to the offensive glass. Only three Penn missed layups are keeping the Tigers in the game in the early going.

Whoever's making the rollouts is clearly a veteran of Poetry 101. Tonight's first:
Princeton's colors, orange and black.
I use Scott to wipe my crack.

Penn 7, Princeton 2: 1st 17:45
Good start for the Quakers, who naturally win the tip and get the ball to Darren Smith in the corner for an open there. Princeton, meanwhile has its trademark offense alive and well. making cuts and curls some 30 feet from the basket. Still Penn is unaffected and is overwhelming the undersized Tigers for scores on the first three possessions.

Penn 0, Princeton 0: 1st 20:00
Relatively small crowd by Penn-Princeton standards. Maybe it's whatever was falling on my head that wasn't exactly snow. Maybe it's Princeton's record. But the Tigers didn't even bring their cheerleaders.

Pregame: Welcome to tonight's showdown between Penn and Princeton at the Palestra. This year's matchup is uncharacteristically between the league's top and bottom teams. The Quakers come in 5-1 Ivy, while Princeton is 1-5, its lone win coming in double overtime over Harvard.

Here are the starters:

Penn (14-8, 5-1)
G Ibrahim Jaaber
G Darren Smith
G Brian Grandieri
F Mark Zoller
C Stephen Danley

Princeton (10-10, 1-5)
G Marcus Schroeder
G Lincoln Gunn
F Justin Conway
F Noah Savage
C Zach Finley

And just one quick note before we get going. One of tonight's officials is none other than Joe DeMayo, making his first appearance at a Penn game this year. It was DeMayo, who made the famous hook call for Judson Wallace's fifth foul when Penn had its epic comeback two years ago. Interesting time for DeMayo to come out of his A-14 hibernation.