FINAL: PENN 69, COLUMBIA 67

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FINAL: Penn 69, Columbia 67

It was clear that Miller wanted Bernardini to have the last shot, but his first attempt came up way short; it may have been tipped. But a Penn player dove for the rebound and it bounced back to Bernardini, who promptly hit a short floater to give Penn the victory.

2nd Half, 13.0: Penn 67, Columbia 67

Scott got to the basket and was fouled by Bernardini, but he only made one of two. Penn now has a chance for the last shot; we'll see what Miller draws up.

2nd Half, 26.4: Penn 67, Columbia 66

Typical Brian Grandieri play as the seconds wind down. After Niko Scott scored on a nice drive to the hoop, Grandieri grabbed the offensive board from a Bernardini miss and put it back in, thanks to a friendly roll. Columbia now has the ball with the chance to take the lead.

2nd Half, 1:20: Penn 64, Columbia 64

Schreiber continued his strong play down the stretch with a nice move inside to score on Nwachukwu. Baumann hit two free throws to tie it and Miller just called a timeout to set up a play for the Quakers.

2nd Half, 2:36: Penn 62, Columbia 62

Schreiber came up big, hitting four consecutive free throws. The second pair came after a needless over-the-back foul on Nwachukwu that put Penn in the double bonus.

2nd Half, 3:36: Columbia 60, Penn 58

Four consecutive points forced Jones into a timeout. Bernardini hit two FTs then Grandieri got inside and hit one of patented floaters off the backboard. Should be a good one down the stretch. 2nd Half, 5:02: Columbia 60, Penn 54

Gaines made a nice floater but then missed a pretty easy layup on Penn's next possession. Nwachukwu continues to give Penn headaches inside. First he scored on a nice post move on Eggleston, then he grabbed an offensive board and got the putback.

2nd Half, 7:47: Columbia 56, Penn 50

Not much has changed since the last timeout. Justin Reilly scored after getting an offensive rebound for Penn and Montgomery scored on a nice back door play for Columbia. Columbia has kept Bernardini extremely quiet in this half, which had to be one of its focal points for the game.

2nd Half, 10:24: Columbia 52, Penn 46

It's entering danger time for the Quakers. Columbia looks poised to take control of this game.

2nd Half, 13:04: Columbia 50, Penn 44

Big sequence for Columbia: first Baumann fought hard for two offensive boards and scored, despite what looked like multiple fouls on him. That play got Jones really pumped up. On the next play, Columbia turned a bad pass from Grandieri into a Baumann fast break dunk, forcing a Miller timeout. More bad news for Penn, Schreiberpicked up his fourth foul moments ago.

2nd Half, 15:43: Columbia 44, Penn 39

Penn is getting hurt by the long ball so far. Baumann, Montgomery and Loscalzo have all hit triples for the Lions. Penn's one highlight came on a nifty steal from Bernardini, which led to a wide open dunk.

Even the band and cheerleading seniors got honored at halftime..and wait even senior DP reporters! Be right back, I have to get my plaque.

Ok here are the halftime stats:

Leading Scorers: Penn - Egee (12), Columbia - Nwachukwu (15)

FGs: Penn - 10-28 (35.7%), Columbia - 11-27 (40.7%)

Rebounds: Penn - 15 (4 offensive), Columbia - 19 (6 offensive)

Assists/Turnovers: Penn - 6/10, Columbia - 6/11

Bench Points: Penn - 28, Columbia - 5

Halftime: Penn 33, Columbia 32

Really good game so far. Not even close to the excitement of last night, but it's been pretty intriguing. Nwachukwu was a force inside for the entire half, but Penn did a good job of not letting him dominate the game. Penn ended the half with some momentum thanks to a scrappy play from Bernardini, leading to a Grandieri runaway layup.

1st Half, 48.9: Penn 31, Columbia 31

Conor Turley is getting some serious playing time, not sure why. Perhaps Miller figures they need all the fouls they can get guarding Columbia's big men. Eggleston has been sitting on the bench for a while after picking up two early fouls.

Turley is making Miller look good, though. He's been doing a pretty good job with his interior defense.

1st Half, 3:46: Columbia 25, Penn 23

Nwachukwu scored once again and it looked like Columbia was starting to pull away. But another three from Egee brought the Penn deficit to 2. This game is reminiscent of the first meeting between the two, except K.J. Matsui is not raining down three's like he did in that game. The Quakers are keeping it close as a result, but they just don't seem to match up well with Columbia.

1st Half, 6:16: Columbia 21, Penn 19

The Lions continue to pound the ball inside. Nwackukwu isn't killing Penn, but he's been Columbia's best offensive option so far. For Penn, Kevin Egee kept the game close with two three-pointers, both from the left wing.

1st Half, 11:58: Columbia 11, Penn 8

Both offenses are still struggling. Penn's only easy basket came on a runaway layup for Schreiber. Nwachukwu is too strong for Penn's big men to guard; he scored on Reilly and-one inside. Columbia coach Joe Jones is upset with the way the game is being called though. Both Baumann and Nwchukwu have been called for offensive fouls.

1st Half, 15:52: Columbia 6, Penn 3

Ugly start for both sides, especially Penn. The Quakers missed their first five shots, including four ugly ones from Grandieri. Baumann and Loscalzo hit three's for Columbia and right after Harrison Gaines and Tyler Bernardini replaced Kach and Gill, Gaines got Penn on the board with a triple.

Ok enough of that, let's get to the game.

Starting Lineups:

Penn - Another classy move, this one by Miller, giving Kach and Gill the start.

G Joe Gill

G Mike Kach

G Brian Grandieri

F Jack Eggleston

C Andreas Schreiber

Columbia -

G Niko Scott

G Mack Montgomery

G Brett Loscalzo

F John Baumann

C Ben Nwachukwu

Pre-Game Ceremony: Really nice ceremony for Grandieri, Gill, and Mike Kach. Great ovation for everyone, especially Grandieri. Classy move by Columbia as all of the Lions stood and applauded Penn's Class of '08. It's too bad this place is nearly empty for their last game here.

Sports editors...I mean Rob Gross here at the Palestra for Penn's final home game of the season. Refresh the page throughout the game for live updates on Senior Night.

It's hard to believe this will be Brian Grandieri's last game at the Palestra. Hopefully his teammates can play as well as they did last night and give him one last victory on this floor. Let's also hope the game is not too close so fellow senior Joe Gill can see some PT - then again he was on the floor in crunch time last year when Glen Miller sent out his best three-point shooting team, Sidenote, Tim Begley is in the house for Senior Night and it looks like he might be thinking about changing his sport of choice. He spent the last few minutes in conversation with women's soccer coach Darren Ambrose.