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Ninety-five years after Penn opened up the Palestra with a win over Yale, this edition of the Red & Blue sought another reset Saturday against the team pegged to win the Ivy title in the conference preseason media poll.
Whether it’s fair or not, we’re often defined in life by how we finish. How we finish relationships. How we finish jobs. How we finish thoughts.
For Penn at John J. Lee Amphitheater Friday night, the finish wasn’t worthy of the start.
Penn appeared to deliver the coup de grâce to Yale when senior guard Devon Goodman hit a three-pointer, his sixth of the night on seven attempts, to put the Red & Blue up 73-63 with 2:52 remaining.
Then the long nightmare casting a longer shadow over Penn’s Ivy League Tournament hopes began.
Penn’s 66-59 loss at Dartmouth Friday night managed to cobble together the shortcomings jeopardizing a fourth Ivy League Tournament appearance for the Red & Blue in as many years.
ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell was unable to slow Penn down on offense in a rare Sunday afternoon game at Newman Arena, falling to the visitors, 79-73 in a game that tipped off 20 hours than it was supposed to because of a postponement due to inclement weather.
“We needed a couple more stops and a couple more plays made,” Cornell coach Brian Earl said. “They fought a hard game last night, and us, so these games are always difficult.”
The Big Red (5-14, 2-4 Ivy) opened the game on an 8-2 run, but the Quakers (12-7, 4-2) came back and led by as many as eight in the first half. Terrance McBride connected on a nifty post move with two seconds left to cut the Penn lead to three at the halftime buzzer. He wound up with 15 points.
Dartmouth and Penn missed 79 shots from the field and at the free throw line during Saturday’s clash at the Palestra, but Penn’s 20 field goals on 52 attempts and nine free throws proved more than enough to win a slugfest with the Big Green, 54-46, to notch a weekend sweep after downing Harvard Friday.
Penn (10-7, 2-2 Ivy) powered its way to a 32-14 advantage 1:46 into the second half and hung on from there in a game in which points came at a premium no matter who you were.
Fran Dunphy’s teams always seemed to play great defense, whether at Penn or Temple.
Dunphy was honored with a standing ovation prior to the game, the first meeting between the two without either being coached by Dunphy in 31 seasons Saturday at the Palestra, and defense was fittingly the order of the day.
The Big 5 rivals held each other under a point per possession, but it was Penn that made enough shots for a 66-59 win.
Penn may have been the host of its matchup with Princeton Saturday, but it was the Tigers who made themselves at home at the Palestra.
The Tigers, fueled by Ryan Schweiger’s career-high 27 points, defeated the Quakers 78-64 in their first meeting of the year. The two teams will meet again on Friday at Jadwin Gym. The Quakers will need to make several adjustments to walk away victorious. Here are the keys to victory for both teams.