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1st |
2nd |
Final |
| Penn (16-7, 8-1 Ivy) |
35 |
32 |
67 |
| Cornell (10-14, 5-5 Ivy) |
29 |
27 |
56 |
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| Keys to the Game |
| Key sequence |
Lenny Collins found Andrew Naeve along the baseline for a 10-foot jumper that gave Cornell its first lead of the game at 48-47. The score stayed that way for over two minutes until Ibby Jaaber hit a jumper to put Penn back on top. A minute later, Brian Grandieri put back a Jaaber missed three-pointer to expand Penn’s lead to three. Lenny Collins missed a tying three-pointer, and Steve Danley rebounded and converted Mark Zoller’s missed three to give the Quakers a five-point lead. After another Collins miss, Penn found Friedrich Ebede underneath, but the senior rushed a wide-open layup that rolled out on him. Cornell used three free throws on its next two possessions to make it a 53-51 game with under five minutes left. Eric Osmundson answered with a big three-pointer to restore the five-point Penn cushion, igniting a 12-0 run fueled by nine successful free throws on the next four Quaker possessions to put Penn up 65-51. |
| Key sign it was over |
After David Lisle’s layup made it a 65-53 game with just over a minute left, Steve Donahue elected not to foul. Penn ran the shotclock all the way down to three seconds before Osmundson missed a jumper. But Jaaber was there for a tip-in to make it 67-53 Quakers with 26 seconds left. |
| Key performance |
Jaaber’s 29-point, four-rebound, two-assist, one-block, four-steal, zero-turnover evening. On a night when Grandieri was the only other Quaker to provide much offense at all, Jaaber nearly singlehandedly carried Penn to victory. The lock for Ivy League Player of the Year shot 9 of 14 from the field, 5 of 10 from outside the arc, and 6 of 7 from the free throw line. |
| Key statistic |
Adam Gore’s three points. Penn shut down Cornell’s top scorer, holding the likely Ivy League Rookie of the Year to 1-of-4 shooting on the evening. Gore got his only points of the game on a three-pointer midway through the first half. |
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| Notes |
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Donahue went with a 2-3 zone almost the entire game, frustrating Penn’s offense. The Quakers would record just eight assists on the evening. |
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Zoller had a very rough night for Penn, going 3-for-13 from the field and committing six turnovers with no assists. |
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Collins was Cornell’s leading scorer with 14 points, but shot just 4 of 11 and committed six turnovers. |
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Penn forced 20 Cornell turnovers on the strength of 12 steals, converting those turnovers into 25 points. The Quakers struggled to take care of the ball themselves, giving it back to the Big Red 18 times, with 11 coming on Cornell thefts. |
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Penn built an 11-point advantage with six minutes left in the first half, but Cornell used an 8-0 run to trim the margin to three with just over two minutes left before halftime. Penn led 35-29 at intermission. |
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Steve Danley’s only shot in 23 minutes was a putback layup in the second half. |
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For the second-straight night, the Quakers shot the three-pointer well in the first half (6 of 13, 46.2 percent), but cooled off after halftime (3 of 11, 27.3 percent). |
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The win was Penn’s 16th-straight victory over Cornell, and improved Fran Dunphy’s record to 12-0 against Donahue and 22-1 against his two former assistants who are now Division I head coaches. |
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The game drew a crowd of 3,174 — the second largest crowd to see a game at Newman Arena this season, behind only the 3,849 who showed up for the game against Harvard on February 4. |
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