Relive Some of the Memorable Moments in Quakers’ Basketball History.

1/23/1971 PENN VS. VILLANOVA	1979 NCAA EASTERN REGIONAL	1979 NCAA FINAL FOUR

Oh, by the way, the nightcap featured the #7 La Salle Explorers (17-1) against the #8 Villanova Wildcats (16-2). Sophomore Ken Durrett (20 points, 15 rebounds) led the Explorers to a 74-67 win over sophomore Howard Porter (21 points, 21 rebounds) and the Wildcats. Click  to watch highlights of Penn’s upset win.

The Quakers put the finishing touches on their perfect season in spite of losing their starting point guard, Steve Bilsky, to injury in the contest. In coach Dick Harter’s fifth year guiding the Red and Blue, the Quakers made a clean sweep of the regular season with wins over Ohio State, Syracuse and Utah. Penn also defeated each of its city foes to claim the Big 5 title. Bilsky and Dave Wohl manned the backcourt for the Quakers, as only two of their regular season victories were decided by five points or less. Penn ascended the national rankings to as high as No. 3 and defeated Duquesne and South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, before falling to Villanova, 90-47, in the East Regional final. The Wildcats later had to forfeit the game due to an ineligible player. Click  to listen to the final seconds of Penn’s perfect season.

When the NCAA Tournament pairings were announced, No. 4 ranked Penn was to take on No. 11 Duquesne, the top Eastern Independent, in the opening round. The Iron Dukes entered the game with a record of 21-3 and a 15-game winning streak. The Quakers’ injured guard, Steve Bilsky, was replaced in the starting lineup by forward Phil Hankinson, moving Corky Calhoun to the backcourt. Bob Morse connected on nine 20-footers in the first half, helping Penn take a 32-28 halftime lead. In the second half, Penn controlled but could not break the game open. But Duquesne could not catch up. The lead varied between three and nine points. With 3:10 to go, and Penn leading by three, 61-58, the Quakers went into the Bilsky-Wohl freeze, putting the game away. The Quakers were finally relieved of the terrible burden that the previous year’s first round NCAA Tournament loss to Niagara had placed on them. Click  to watch highlights or c

lick  to listen to some of the original radio broadcast

The 3rd ranked Quakers took on the ACC Champion, the 6th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks, in the NCAA Tournament’s second round in ACC country --  Raleigh, North Carolina. The first half was extremely close, and Bob Morse kept the Quakers in the game, scoring 16 points, as Penn trailed, 37-36, at halftime. With five minutes remaining in the game, Penn held a slim 61-58 lead, before the poised Quakers really took control. Dave Wohl canned a one-and-one and followed with another. Then Corky Calhoun made two free throws, upping the score to 67-58 with 4:03 to go. On the Gamecocks’ next possession, All-American guard John Roche was called for an offensive foul, which was followed by a technical foul on Roche. Wohl converted the technical foul shot. Then Wohl made another one-and-one and Bilsky made two. Penn had completed an 11-0 run, all on foul shots, and led 72-58. Morse led all scorers with 28 points and Wohl added 20. Click  to watch

lick  to listen to some of the original radio broadcast

As the day dawned in Raleigh, N.C., all the Penn Quakers had going for them was a No. 3 ranking, an undefeated season and victories in 61 of their previous 65 games, including three straight against Villanova, the only team between them and the Eastern Regional championship. But what unfurled was - quite simply - the most shocking score in Big 5 history. Villanova 90, Penn 47. The 19th-ranked Wildcats led 9-1 early, then 13-3, 43-22 at intermission... and then they opened the second half by scoring the first 16 points, making it 59-22 and leaving only the final numbers to be determined. Howard Porter shot 16-for-24 en route to 35 points and 15 rebounds. Hank Siemiontkowski was 10-for-15 and finished 20 points and seven rebounds. The Wildcats wound up shooting 37-for-60, a 61.7 percentage. Meanwhile, not one Penn player was able to reach double digits. While the season ended for Penn, the Wildcats would go on to defeat Western Kentucky in a double-overtime semifinal, 92-89, and lose to Sidney Wicks and UCLA in the championship game. Click  to watch highlights.

. Click  to listen to the first 1:40 of the second half.

. Click  to listen to the final 50 seconds.

Click to watch Ed Stefanski’s “shot” and the ensuing controversy.

Temple led, 40-37, with 4:21 to go. Both teams turned the ball over before Penn’s John Beecroft hit a jumper at 3:20 to cut the Owls’ lead to 40-39. At 2:50, Temple’s Wes Ramseur hit a 12-footer to extend the lead to 42-39. Ramseur fouled John Engles at 1:38 and he converted both to close the gap to 42-41. With 1:24 to go, Kevin Washington was called for an offensive foul and the ball went over to the Quakers. With just 25 seconds remaining, Beecroft hit a 15-footer for the winning Penn points, 43-42. Click  to watch highlights as the Quakers outlasted the Owls.

to watch the final seconds and the ensuing celebration

or click  to listen to the conclusion

enn’s courageous Quakers earned a berth in the Final Four by outlasting dogged St. John’s, 64-62. The Quakers trip to Mormon country in Salt Lake City was not assured until freshman Vincent Ross intercepted a length-of-the-court pass by the Redmen with just one second showing on the Greensboro Coliseum clock. The pickoff finally killed a series of chances St. John’s had to at least tie the game in the final seconds. Diminutive guard James Salters provided the margin of victory with two pressure free throws with just 23 seconds to play, being fouled while Penn was holding for one shot to break a 62-62 tie. Eastern Regional MVP Tony Price led the Quakers with 21 points. Click to watch the final seconds and the ensuing celebration

or click  to listen to the dramatic conclusion.

to listen to highlights of Penn’s 14-0 run to close out the game

lick  to watch footage which includes the late Hank Gathers as a USC freshman

Villanova 71, Penn 60 (February 10, 1987)
Harold Jensen scored 18 points as Villanova rallied in the second half, after trailing by seven points at the break. A Perry Bromwell steal and slam had given Penn a 43-34 lead. After the Wildcats scored six straight points, Bromwell’s three-point play gave Penn a 46-40 edge with 15 minutes to play. But the Wildcats scored the next 10 points, six by Gary Massey, to go ahead by 50-46. A layup by Bruce Lefkowitz cut the Penn deficit to 63-58 with two minutes to go, but Jensen and Kenny Wilson each hit two free throws to insure the 71-60 victory, before 6,209 fans at The Palestra. Mark Plansky had 16 points and Massey 12 for Villanova, and Bromwell had 23 points and Lefkowitz 15 for Penn. Click to watch Perry Bromwell’s steal and ensuing slam.

Dartmouth’s Brian Randall converted a pair of free throws with 27 seconds remaining to give the Big Green a 69-66 lead. Penn called timeout with 24 seconds to go. Dane Watts’ jumper just inside the free throw lane cut the lead to 69-68, and the Quakers called timeout with seven seconds remaining. On the ensuing inbounds play, Dartmouth’s Jim Barton was called for an offensive foul. Ben Spiva converted both ends of the one-and-one, and suddenly Penn had a one-point lead without any time moving off the clock. When Randall’s three-point attempt -- with Tyrone Gilliams’ hand in his face -- rimmed out at the buzzer, the Quakers had pulled off a miraculous one-point victory. Although the picture quality is poor, click  to watch the unbelievable finish.

“QUAKERS SHOCK THE WILDCATS” (Part II): Penn 71, Villanova 70 (December 6, 1988)
Villanova was ranked 17th in the nation. Penn was on its way to a 13-13 record. For one night, it didn’t matter. For 40 minutes, the Penn men’s basketball team dodged fate.  Villanova brought a top-20 national ranking, a 7-foot-3 center, a star guard and a five-year winning streak over the Quakers into the game. But Penn shocked the Wildcats, 71-70, before 5,710 fans in The Palestra. Every time the Quakers forged ahead to create whispers of an upset, the Wildcats, or more specifically center Tom Greis (career-high 32 points), came back to silence them. But in the last minute Penn roared. Quakers forward Jose Tavarez converted an offensive rebound for a 67-65 lead, which Penn never relinquished. “This is the greatest win of my career,” said Penn guard Walt Frazier, who led the Quakers with 25 points. “We hustled, we fought and we scrapped. Everybody contributed and we were able to play our game.” Click to watch the closing seconds and the ensuing celebration.

lick to watch Hassan Duncombe score his final four points of his 44-point game.

La Salle 84, Penn 80 (OT) (December 1, 1990)
Doug Overton sank a 10-foot driving shot in the lane with eight seconds left to force overtime, then scored nine of his 35 points in the extra session to carry La Salle to an 84-80 victory over Penn in the season’s city series opener at the Palestra. Overton, coming off a 31-point game in La Salle’s season-opening win over Loyola (Baltimore), had converted both ends of a one-and-one with 33 seconds left in regulation to give La Salle a 70-69 advantage. The Quakers’ Paul McMahon then hit a scoop shot and made a free throw to give Penn, who had trailed by 10 with 17 minutes to go, a 72-70 lead with 22 seconds remaining before Overton tied it. Click to watch Paul McMahon’s three-point play put Penn ahead with 22 seconds left.

“WILL THE THRILL”: Penn 73, Dartmouth 59 (February 2, 1991)
Will McAllister scored a career-high 21 points, including a high-flying slam dunk that delighted the Palestra crowd, to lead the Quakers to a 73-59 victory over Dartmouth. Click to watch Will “The Thrill” McAllister’s crowd-pleasing jam.

“The ‘E’ in the Game of H-O-R-S-E”: Temple 69, Penn 65 (December 3, 1991)
Mik Kilgore scored 17 points, including a crucial free throw with 11 seconds left, as the Owls held off the Quakers. The Owls led by as many as 16 points in the first half and held a 63-52 lead on a jump shot by Aaron McKie with 8:55 to play. But Penn went on a 13-4 spurt and closed to 67-65 on a layup by Barry Pierce with 1:23 remaining. And when Temple’s Vic Carstarphen missed the first of two free throws with 0:32 remaining, the Quakers had a chance to tie. Then came what Jerome Allen, at his 2009 Big 5 Hall of Fame induction, would describe as his best Big 5 memory. As the clock wound down, Allen stood wide open in the corner of the court and watched teammate Vince Curran miss a three from the right side of the hash. Despite the loss, Allen remembers the game for a memorable quote by Curran. “[Vince] said ‘That was the ‘E’ in the game of horse,’ and we rode him for probably the rest of the season about that comment. It was a shot I’ve definitely seen him make so it was just funny hearing him describe it as such.”Allen said. Click to watch the ‘E’ in the game of H-O-R-S-E.

“BARRY PIERCE’S INFAMOUS DEUCE”: St. Joseph’s 82, Penn 81 (December 9, 1991)
Trailing by three points in the closing seconds, Barry Pierce drove to the hoop and drained a short jumper with 0.5 seconds remaining. Unfortunately for Pierce and the Quakers, that bucket left the Red and Blue one point short, and Penn fell to St. Joseph’s, 82-81, in the first game of a Big 5 doubleheader, before 14,737 fans at the Spectrum. The Quakers trailed at halftime, 44-38, and were down by 11 points with just over seven minutes left, before Will McAllister led a Quaker comeback, scoring 16 of his team-high 18 points in the second half. In the second game, La Salle defeated Villanova, 79-75. Click to watch the final seconds.

to watch the final 26 seconds of regulation

After suffering a stress fracture in his foot late in the 1990-91 season, Mike Milobsky broke his foot in a practice prior to the start of the 1991-92 season. It wasn’t even a certainty that Milobsky would play a game during his senior season. But he did, and he rattled the rim, much to the delight of the Palestra crowd. Click

Click

Click  to watch Barry Pierce’s 3-pointer and the ensuing shower of streamers.

Penn was on a mission for national respectability, and finally earned it with a 77-62 pummeling of Southern California, the worst Trojan loss at home in three years. Penn dominated Southern Cal for almost the entire game. The Quakers took their first lead only 33 seconds into the contest and held onto it for all but a one-minute span in the middle of the first half. After Penn took a 41-35 lead into the intermission, the Quakers came out of the locker room ready to prove who the better team really was. The Quakers, led by guards Jerome Allen (16 points, 7 rebounds) and Matt Maloney (19 points), went on an 18-5 run to start the second half, extending their lead to 59-40. Penn held on throughout the second half, never letting the Trojans get within single digits and cruising to the easy victory. Click  to listen to the Quakers run off nine straight points to open up a commanding 59-40 lead.

Click  to listen to the Quakers build an early 39-31 lead.

Penn 114, Haverford 73 (December 18, 1993)
The Quakers routed the Division-III Fords, 114-73, at The Palestra. It was the first time Penn scored at least 100 points in a game since November 30, 1981. The Red and Blue hit the century mark when Donald Moxley followed a Nat Graham missed shot with 6:42 still remaining. Click to listen to Scott Graham’s call of Donald Moxley’s put back.

Click to watch highlights of Penn’s most recent NCAA Tournament victory.

After a re-oiling following the first 15 minutes of this contest against the Knights, the Penn men’s basketball machine took over. The Quakers went on a 78-36 run in the remaining 25 minutes to blow it open, and forward Cedric Laster threw it down to give Penn its first century mark against a Division I opponent since a 1981 pasting of St. Francis (Pa.) by that same 101-71 score. Thirteen of the 15 Quakers scored. Ira Bowman had a career-high 17 points, and Jerome Allen scored 25 points, helped by a 7-of-8 shooting performance in the second half. Click

Click  to watch Jerome Allen’s game-winning eight-foot leaner that silenced the Michigan fans for good and sent the Quaker fans into a frenzy

Click to watch Tim Krug’s block and Ira Bowman’s subsequent slam.

k to listen to Andrew Monfried’s call of

Penn 71, Columbia 53 (February 28, 1998)
Michael Jordan made it real simple for his fellow Quakers when the team ventured up to New York City. “Let’s get loose and have fun out there!” he spouted to his teammates moments before the contest. The result was a 71-53 win. Part of the easygoing vibe exuded by Penn translated into some thrilling moments. It showed when Jordan took a gorgeous alley-oop pass from teammate Paul Romanczuk and converted it for a layup. On the flip side, a Jordan bounce pass between two Lion defenders produced a Romanczuk dunk on a fast break. Both plays had Columbia coach Armond Hill calling timeout. The Red and Blue’s casual nature on the court also produced several wide open 3-pointers for Jordan and senior co-captain Garett Kreitz, who together sunk eight treys. In all, the Quakers nailed 11 three-pointers -- six in the second half when Penn built upon its seven-point half time lead. Kreitz stood out from the rest. He bucketed three from downtown in a six minute span in the second half to ignite a Quakers’ streak. The initial two treys helped Penn jump to a 39-26 lead in the opening moments in the second half. Click to watch Paul Romanczuk’s two-handed jam.

Kansas 61, Penn 56 (November 17, 1998)
Kansas coach Roy Williams wanted his team to experience the Palestra. He was willing to sacrifice travel time and strength-of-schedule to make the excursion possible. However, he hadn’t anticipated sacrificing the No. 8 national ranking, much less his sanity. With 6:15 left in the first-half and the Jayhawks trailing Penn 16-13, a mixture of questionable calls and 7,852 screaming, partisan fans got beneath the skin of a usually mellow coach. Williams released his wrath on the closest zebra, official Dick Paparo. The result -- just his seventh technical foul in his 11-year coaching career. With Penn junior Matt Langel hitting the ensuing shots from the charity stripe, the Quakers built a five-point lead, 18-13. Welcome to the Palestra -- college basketball’s most historic arena. At halftime, Penn was leading 26-19. After intermission, the Quakers returned equally as aggressive and the fans proved no less rowdy. But the Jayhawks -- a team that shot so poorly from the floor in the first half -- returned to the Palestra hardwood en fuego, lighting it up on 15-of-20 shots from the field. The Jayhawks executed the things they needed in the closing minutes to maintain their ranking. Click to watch Penn build a 26-19 halftime lead.

“KOKO’S TOMAHAWK DUNK”: Penn 71, Army 56 (December 3, 1999)
Penn led for all but 4:08 in the 71-56 win and never saw its lead shrink to less than 13 in the second half. The Cadets held close early by making nine of their first 14 shots. But Army’s outside shooting soon went AWOL. Army shot only 32 percent from the field in the last 28 minutes and the Quakers ended the first half on a 22-3 run. Integral to Penn’s success was the play of its freshmen. Fran Dunphy used his first-year players liberally. Ugonna Onyekwe and Koko Archibong started the game, and, at one point in the first half, a lineup of Michael Jordan and four freshmen outscored the Cadets 6-3 in the two minutes they were together. Archibong ignited the crowd. The freshman forward thrilled the Palestra faithful in the second half with a one-handed tomahawk dunk on a breakaway. Archibong followed that up a few minutes later with an emphatic swat of an Army shot that triggered another deafening ovation. The Quakers dominated the inside, grabbing 15 offensive rebounds and outscoring the undersized Cadets 34-14 in the paint. Click to watch Koko Archibong’s one-handed tomahawk dunk.

Click to watch the exciting finish.

Click to watch the exciting finish.

Click to watch the exciting finish.

“DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN”: Davidson 75, Penn 71 (OT) (December 22, 2001)
It was deja-vu. Well, almost. Penn fell to Davidson, 75-71, in overtime at The Palestra in almost the same fashion as one year prior. The Quakers jumped all over the Wildcats and held a 12-point lead at halftime, but Davidson found its legs and pushed up the court for every one of its 46 second-half points. The Quakers almost had the game under wraps when junior Koko Archibong hit one-of-two free throws with three seconds left in regulation to give Penn a two-point lead, 66-64. But with no time left on the clock, Ugonna Onyekwe was whistled for a foul just beyond the three-point line which sent Davidson’s leading scorer, Emeka Erege, to the charity stripe. Erege nailed the first two free throws, but missed the third to send the game into OT. The deja-vu came at almost the same time as the previous season, but on the other end of the court. Penn was fighting for its first win of the season, and David Klatsky went to the line with nine seconds left and made all three free throws to send the game into OT. In overtime this time, the Quakers scored first as Klatsky found Onyekwe, who tomahawked a dunk at 4:19, to give Penn a two-point lead, 68-66. Unfortunately, that is the best Penn would do in the OT stanza, as the Red and Blue missed three consecutive three-point attempts and Davidson scored a field goal and converted a three-point play to push its lead to five, 73-68, with 49 seconds remaining. Penn got some fire from sophomore Jeff Schiffner when he hit a trifecta from the left side with 46 ticks left on the clock, but Penn would score no more and Davidson made two free throws to seal the win, 75-71. Click to listen to Adam Hertzog’s call of Ugonna Onyekwe’s tomahawk dunk.

to watch Dan Solomito’s three

Click to watch Tim Begley’s version of “showtime”.

to watch Penn rattle off the game’s first eight points, click to watch Ugonna Onyekwe’s second half slam or click

The city rivalry was fittingly played out in front of a crowd of 12,052 at the First Union Center, where the Quakers came away with a convincing 72-58 win over Villanova. The early establishment of the inside game by the Red and Blue’s key big men -- Ugonna Onyekwe and Koko Archibong -- prefaced the success of the outside game. The pair of senior forwards scored Penn’s first 16 points, forcing the Wildcats to choose between guarding the low-post and the perimeter. Onyekwe led all scorers with 22 points and also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. His exclamation point dunk midway through the first half tied the game up, and he put the Quakers ahead for good on the next possession with his second 3-pointer of the game, pushing the score to 16-15. Onyekwe primed the pump with his two early threes, but Penn guard Jeff Schiffner took over from there. The junior was deadly accurate from downtown, sinking five-of-seven three-point attempts on his way to 19 points. Ball movement was a key for the Quakers as they alternated between the low-post, long jumpers, and drives to the basket. While the Quakers offense was firing on all cylinders, Villanova had a difficult time establishing a consistent attack after the opening stages of the game. Click  to watch Ugonna Onyekwe’s exclamation point dunk and 3-pointer, sandwiched around Jason Fraser’s monstrous dunk.

Click to watch David Klatsky’s huge 3-pointer.

“KLATSKY-TO-U ALLEY-OOP”: Penn 67, Dartmouth 52 (February 22, 2003)
Penn started out with a bang, going up 9-0 to start the game, which included two trifectas by Tim Begley. Dartmouth came right back with an 8-0 run of its own and tied the game at 12, with 14:38 to go, before Ugonna Onyekwe scored on consecutive buckets for the Quakers. Dartmouth took its first lead of the game at 9:25 in the first half, 17-16, and went up by five, 30-25, before Onyekwe slammed one home and Andrew Toole drove the lane with 50 seconds left to tie the game at 30 when he converted a free throw. A David Klatsky alley-oop pass to Onyekwe for another dunk with 30 ticks left gave Penn a 32-30 lead, but Dartmouth’s Charles Harris tied the game at 32 with two free throws as the teams went into halftime. Dartmouth took the lead at 40-38 with 15:50 remaining before Begley nailed a three to give the Red and Blue a lead they would not relinquish. Penn buckled down defensively and held Dartmouth scoreless for almost seven minutes in the second half and went up, 54-41, on a David Klatsky 3-pointer with 7:32 left, and the rest was history. Click to watch David Klatsky’s alley-oop pass to Ugonna Onyekwe.

Click  to watch Ugonna’s reverse slam.

lick  to watch Ugonna Onyekwe’s up-and-under reverse layup, which gave Penn a 29-24 first half lead.

Click  to watch Jeff Schiffner’s almost-buzzer-beater..

“HOLIDAY FESTIVAL CHAMPIONS” (PART II): Penn 49, Manhattan 47 (December 29, 2003)
A little deja vu never hurt anyone. Exactly one day after Jeff Schiffner’s jump shot with one second left in double overtime went through the net to give the Quakers a first round win, Tim Begley did the same exact thing. Begley’s jumper with the shot clock winding down (42.7 seconds left on the game clock) and Luis Flores in his face hit its target to give Penn an emotional 49-47 victory over two-time defending champion-Manhattan in the Dreyfus Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden. Manhattan burst out to a 13-3 lead, before the Quakers got into a rhythm that the Jaspers could not contend with. Penn held Manhattan without a point for 7:40 of the first half and headed into the locker room on a 25-2 run for a 28-15 halftime lead. The Quakers extended their lead to 38-21, before Manhattan stepped up the pace and climbed back in, eventually tying the game at 47 with 1:19 to play, setting the stage for Begley’s heroics. There were still two possessions left in the game following the Begley jumper and after the Jaspers missed a shot and Penn looked to go quick on a breakaway, Flores came from behind and stole the ball to force the game back to the other end of the court. Another Manhattan shot went up and missed and an ensuing jump ball gave the Jaspers one last chance. Three more attempts would not fall and Mark Zoller grabbed the final rebound of the game. Click  to watch the exciting finish.

“IT AIN’T OVER TILL IT’S OVER”: Brown 92, Penn 88 (OT) (January 31, 2004)
Brown needed a miracle shot. Down four points with 9.4 seconds left in regulation, Brown’s Jaime Kilburn grabbed an offensive rebound and dropped in a two-point bucket, bringing the Bears within two with just three seconds remaining. What’s more, he drew a foul from freshman Mark Zoller. Kilburn purposely missed the free throw, the Bears got the rebound and Mike Martin floated a wild prayer into the basket to tie the game at 75 at the buzzer to force overtime. The Bears’ momentum continued into the extra stanza as Brown shot 72 percent from the field and hit all five of their free throws. Down seven with 4:10 remaining in regulation, Zoller hit two free throws to cut into Brown’s lead before junior Tim Begley took over. Begley hit a baseline jumper at the two-minute mark, helped force Jason Forte into a bad three-point attempt and came down to hit a three of his own and a free throw to give the Quakers a three-point lead, 72-69, with 1:23 remaining. Brown’s Patrick Powers missed a three with senior Jeff Schiffner in his face and Zoller grabbed a big rebound with one minute to go. The Quakers went up four with 33.2 seconds left when Charlie Copp hit one of two free throws. Kilburn hit a jumper to pull Brown within two, 73-71, with 15.8 to go and the ensuing play saw Schiffner bury two free throws to give the Quakers a 75-71 lead with 15 seconds left, setting the stage for Brown’s miracle shot. Click  to watch the dramatic final 9.4 seconds of regulation.

The Quakers wasted no time in taking care of business in the Palestra, defeating Harvard, 104-69. The Quakers went over the 100-point plateau for the second time in three seasons when guard Patrick Lang hit a three with 1:12 left in the game. By the time the starters were hauled off the floor, Penn was up 45 points, 83-48, with a little over 10 minutes to play. Each player who stepped on the court scored at least two points, but the buckets were definitely not as easy to come by. Penn was held without a field goal for 3:30 before Ibby Jaaber grabbed a steal and drove to the basket to give Penn a 96-57 lead. Jaaber again hit the bottom of the net for the Quakers, this time from behind the arc, to give Penn 99 points with just over two minutes to go. Lang, who entered the game a perfect 2-for-2 from behind the three-point line for his career, drained one at the 1:12 mark to make the stands shake. Ryan Pettinella put the icing on the cake with a field goal with 36 seconds left to give Penn the 35-point victory. Click  to watch Patrick Lang’s picture-perfect 3-pointer that put the Quakers over the century mark.

“IBBY’S BREAKOUT WEEKEND”: Penn 91, Columbia 76; Penn 79, Cornell 52 (February 13-14, 2004)
Ibrahim Jaaber came off the bench to spark a first-half run that helped Penn defeat Columbia, 91-76, on Friday night. With Penn trailing 26-22 with 7:49 left in the half, Jaaber converted a steal into a layup to start a 14-4 run that gave the Quakers a 36-30 lead. Penn expanded its lead to 45-36 at halftime with Jaaber scoring eight of his career-best 16 points. Columbia made a brief run early in the second half, cutting the edge to 49-44, but Tim Begley hit a three-point shot to trigger an 8-2 run that gave the Quakers an insurmountable lead. The next night, Penn got 17 points each from Begley and Jaaber in a 79-52 victory over Cornell in Ithaca. Penn opened that game on a 7-2 run and never looked back as both Begley and Jaaber had 11 points in the opening stanza. The Quakers took a 44-20 lead into halftime. The Red and Blue kept at it in the second half, scoring seven-straight points before the Big Red got on the board. Click  to watch Adam Chubb’s dunk off Ibby Jaaber’s alley-oop pass.

“THE TIM BEGLEY SHOW”: Penn 78, La Salle 67 (December 4, 2004)

Tim Begley scored a career-high 29 points to lead Penn past La Salle, 78-67, in the Big 5 Classic at The Palestra. Begley also had a new career best nine field-goals made as well as a new career mark from behind the three-point arc, where he made eight. In addition, the senior tied a career high with 17 field-goal attempts. The Quakers got off to a sluggish start, not scoring a field goal until four minutes into the game on a layup by Jan Fikiel. From that point, Penn put together a lead over the Explorers that stood at 39-32 at halftime. After the half, La Salle battled back behind Steven Smith, who finished the game with 24 points, to draw within one at the 11:59 mark. A trey from Ibrahim Jaaber put the Quakers up four before Sherman Diaz did the same for La Salle, pulling the game to within one at the 10:30 mark. Penn, bolstered by Begley’s 11 second-half points, extended its lead to as much as 16 and cruised to an 11-point victory. Click to watch highlights of “The Tim Begley Show”.

“THE OZ SHOW”: Temple 52, Penn 51 (December 8, 2004)

Eric Osmundson scored a career-high 20 points, but it wasn’t enough as Penn fell to Temple, 52-51, at the Liacouras Center. In a game that saw 14 lead changes and 11 ties, Marty Collins nailed two free throws with four seconds left to give the Owls a one-point victory. With 3:00 left in the game, Osmundson laid in a basket to give Penn a 51-46 lead. Temple took advantage of several missed opportunities by Penn and capitalized on two free-throw attempts. Collins sunk two shots from the charity stripe with 1:52 remaining to pull within one of the Quakers, 51-50. After a steal by each team and turnovers on both ends, the Owls ended up with the ball with 10 seconds remaining on the clock. Steve Danley was called for a foul with four seconds remaining, giving Collins his two attempts. Early on in the game, Osmundson nailed the second of three trifectas in the first half to give the Red and Blue an 11-8 advantage. Friedrich Ebede checked into the game and sank a three from the corner to give the Red and Blue their largest lead of the half, 14-8, just 45 seconds later. Temple  went on a 4-0 run before a dunk by Ebede and another trey from Osmundson tied the game, 24-24, heading into the locker room. Osmundson went 6-for-8 from beyond the arc, and was the only Quaker in double figures. Click  to watch Friedrich Ebede’s dunk or click  to watch highlights of “The Oz Show”.

STEVE DANLEY’S BASELINE JAM: Penn 67, St. Joseph’s 59 (January 25, 2005)
After grabbing the opening tip, Mark Zoller scored the first basket of the game to give Penn a 2-0 lead. St. Joseph’s Chet Stachitas sank a three to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead, but it was the last lead they would see in the game as the Quaker defense held the Hawks scoreless for four minutes and 26 seconds and rolled to a 16-3 lead on a 14-0 run. Penn went on another run, holding the Hawks without a field goal from the 10:42 mark to 5:40 remaining in the first stanza. St. Joe’s sank seven free throws to cut the lead to nine at 35-26 heading into the locker room. The Hawks scored on their first two possessions to open the second stanza, pulling to within six just 56 seconds into the second half, but two Tim Begley trifectas, three free throws by Steve Danley and a bucket by Zoller put the Red and Blue back on top by 14. The Hawks continued to fight back, pulling to within three points with 4:40 on the clock, but a slam dunk by Danley with 41 seconds remaining sealed the Penn victory. Click to watch Steve Danley’s baseline jam off an inbounds pass and fake handoff.

“JAN JAMS” (Part II): Penn 70, Harvard 57 (February 4, 2005)

After a slow start by both schools, Penn turned a 4-2 deficit at the 16:57 mark into an 18-7 lead with 12:49 remaining. The Crimson closed the first 20 minutes on a 9-2 run, and headed into the locker room down six, 35-29. Three quick baskets by Harvard to start the second stanza evened the score at 35-35, but Penn rattled off 11 straight points over the next three and half minutes to take a 46-35 lead. At the 7:40 mark, Begley nailed two foul shots to extend the Quakers lead to 57-46. Ibby  Jaaber picked off the ball on the ensuing trip down the court and passed off to Jan Fikiel who added two points with a two-handed slam. Tim Begley scored the next eight points for the Quakers as Penn extended its lead to 65-49 with 5:51 left in the game. Click to watch Jan Fikiel’s two-handed jam.

TIM BEGLEY SCORES HIS 1,000TH POINT: Penn 68, Dartmouth 44 (February 5, 2005)
Senior Tim Begley reached a career-milestone by scoring his 1,000th-career point, as the Quakers rolled to a 68-44 win over Dartmouth at the Edward Leede Arena. Begley led all scorers with 14 points. With a 34-16 lead, Penn opened the second stanza on an 11-0 run to take a 47-16 lead and never looked back. The Quakers led by as many as 34 in the game, but a late 12-4 run by the Big Green pulled Dartmouth to within 24 points. Begley opened the second stanza with a jumper from just inside the three-point line to score his 998th and 999th career points. At the 16:26 mark, Begley nailed a shot from beyond the arc to become the 32nd player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark. An early 13-0 run by the Quakers, capped off with a Begley trey, put the Red and Blue on top 16-3. Begley added three more points before the end of the half to need only a trifecta to join the exclusive 1,000-point club. The Big Green pulled to within nine at 18-9, but that was the closest they would get. Click  to watch Tim Begley reach the 1,000-point plateau.

“IBBY’S PUT-BACK JAM”: Penn 79, Brown 62 (February 18, 2005)
Four Quakers scored in double figures, including a double-double by Mark Zoller (14 points and 12 boards), to lead the Penn to a 79-62 victory. Tim Begley and Ibby Jaaber each scored a game-high 22 points, while Ryan Pettinella chipped in with 10 points. Penn went on a 25-4 run in the second half to take a 31 point lead with 4:21 remaining in the game. During that stretch, Zoller scored eight of his 14 points and Jaaber finished off a broken Steve Danley layup with an emphatic one-handed jam. The Quaker defense kept the Bears scoreless from the field for 11 minutes and held the Ivy League leading scorer, Jason Forte, to just eight points – his second lowest offensive output of the season. Forte nailed his only field goal of the game to open the first half and give the home team a 3-0 lead. Ruscoe hit a jumper to put Brown ahead, 5-2, but after Jaaber connected on a three-point play, the Quakers took control and ran out to a 23-13 lead with eight minutes left in the first half. The Bears stayed within striking distance and pulled to within five before heading into the locker room. Luke Ruscoe opened the second stanza with a jumper for Brown to pull within 31-28, but turnovers and solid shooting from the Red and Blue allowed Penn to pull ahead. Click  to watch Ibby Jaaber’s one-handed put-back jam.

“IBBY’S PUT-BACK JAM” (PART II): Yale 78, Penn 60 (February 19, 2005)

Mark Zoller scored a season-high 22 points, but it wasn’t enough for the Quakers who fell to Yale, 78-60. Zoller, Ibby Jaaber and Steve Danley scored the first 20 points for Penn, who led 14-9 when Tim Begley rebounded a missed jumper by Edwin Draughan and fed it to Jaaber who dropped in a one handed dunk to give Penn a 16-9 lead. Four points from Eric Flato pulled the Bulldogs to within one at 16-15 and with 7:07 remaining, Alex Gamboa tied the game at 21 with a three. Yale outscored the Quakers down the stretch to take a 35-30 lead into the locker room. Yale scored two-straight baskets to open the second half and extend its lead to 39-30. Zoller hit Penn’s first basket of the half, a three, and added a jumper after picking up two steals to cut the lead to six. Eric Osmundson hit two of three foul shots to pull within, 41-37 but the Bulldogs went on a 21-7 run to pull ahead by 16 with 4:02 remaining. Jaaber followed an Osmundson miss with a put-back jam, but several missed shots by the Quakers and made shots on the other end allowed the Bulldogs to maintain a double-digit lead and pull out the upset. Click  to watch Ibby Jaaber’s put-back jam.

After Penn captured the Ivy League title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with an 80-72 victory over the Lions in Levien Gym, Columbia’s athletic department ensured that the big victory, instead of featuring the wild exuberance typical of most Tournament-bound teams, would be anticlimactic. There was no rushing the court -- the Columbia public address announcer said with five minutes remaining that all access to the court after the game was prohibited. There was no cutting down the nets -- Columbia officials actually raised the baskets, which were suspended from the ceiling, out of reach immediately after the game. There was no trophy presentation or team picture. But the anticlimactic conclusion to the Ivy League title race exemplified the way the Quakers handled their Ivy opponents all season long. Penn jumped out to a 55-37 lead 10 minutes into the second stanza on the strength of an 18-4 run. During that stretch, Tim Begley broke the all-time 3-pointer record with his 245th career triple. The Lions climbed out of the hole pulling to within eight,  80-72, with just under a minute to go, but could not put any added pressure on the Red and Blue. Click  to watch Ibby Jaaber’s one-handed put-back jam or

click to watch highlights and the post-game celebration.

aaber’s 31-point game was the first 30-point effort by a Quaker since Ugonna Onyekwe dropped 30 on Oklahoma State in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament, and the most points scored by a Penn player since Garett Kreitz had 33 against Brown on February 14, 1998. Click  to watch some of the highlights.

QUAKERS HANG WITH #1 DUKE: Duke 72, Penn 59 (December 7, 2005)

enn was undone by 26 turnovers, though, and shot just 39 percent from the field – much of that a result of Duke’s tenacious half-court defense. The Blue Devils had problems of their own offensively, however, committing 17 turnovers. Interestingly, the Quakers outrebounded the nation’s No. 1 team, 34-27, grabbing 14 offensive boards to Duke’s six. Click  to watch

“IBBY JAABER’S PUT-BACK JAM” (PART IV): Fordham 77, Penn 60 (December 9, 2006)
Bryant Dunston scored 21 points and Marcus Stout added 17 as Fordham broke open a close game midway through the second half and defeated Penn, 77-60. Sebastian Greene had 14 points and Brenton Butler 13 for the Rams, who shot 12-for-21 from three-point range. Ibrahim Jaaber had 18 points, and Mark Zoller 14 for Penn. The teams were tied at 44-all when Dunston started a 23-5 run with a three-point play and ended it with a slam dunk, giving the Rams a 67-49 lead with 5:22 left. Penn then scored five straight points, but a 3-pointer by Stout pushed the lead to 70-54 with 3:32 to go. Fordham trailed with 7:51 left in the first half before hitting five straight 3-pointers and moving out to a 39-30 advantage. Jaaber then scored twice, on a steal and a layup, to bring the Quakers to within 39-34 at the break. Click  to watch Ibby Jaaber’s one-handed put-back jam.

“BRIAN GRANDIERI’S HALF-COURT BUZZER-BEATER”: Penn 69, Columbia 43 (January 13, 2007)
Ibrahim Jaaber scored 17 points, Brian Grandieri added 14 and Penn rolled to a 69-43 victory over Columbia. Jaaber had 11 points in the first half, including six in an 11-4 run that put Penn in front 32-21 with 2:31 left before the half. Jaaber hit a three-point shot and later converted a three-point play off a layup during the run. The punctuation came at the end of the half when Grandieri lofted a 40-footer at the buzzer that swished through the basket, giving the Quakers a 37-23 halftime lead and touching off a wild celebration on the Penn bench. The lead may have been 11 already, but the halfcourt shot was a great moment for Grandieri, and his celebrating teammates. “I don’t know what I was thinking. We thought we just won the NCAA Tournament, with those antics. I’ve never even hit a halfcourt shot in my life.” While Penn could have gotten complacent after that play, the shot from deep proved a motivator for the team. “It gave us a lot of emotion going into the second half,” the junior added. “In hindsight it was maybe a good thing for the team, because we reacted well.” The Quakers then scored the first six points after intermission and Columbia got no closer than 16 in the second half, scoring only one field goal in the game’s final 10 minutes. Click  to watch Brian Grandieri’s first-half buzzer-beater from just across half court.

Penn 93, La Salle 92 (January 18, 2007)
Mark Zoller scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Ibrahim Jaaber had 27 points and nine assists as Penn defeated Big 5 rival La Salle, 93-92. Brian Grandieri added 18 points for Penn, which defeated the Explorers for the sixth straight time and the 14th in their last 16 meetings. Darnell Harris had a career-high 32 points, including eight three-point shots, for La Salle, while Rodney Green had 22 and Paul Johnson 17. La Salle led 58-47 with 16:14 left to play before Grandieri started a 16-5 run with a 3-pointer and capped it with a layup to tie the score, 63-63, with 11:26 remaining. For the next 10:03, neither team had more than a two-point lead until Zoller’s two foul shots with 1:03 to go gave the Quakers a 90-87 advantage. A jumper by Jaaber with 15 seconds left made it 92-87, and after a Green layup and a free throw by Grandieri, Johnson’s 3-pointer with one second left accounted for the final score. Both teams shot well during the game, which saw numerous fast breaks. The Quakers made 37 of 64 shots (58 percent) while La Salle was 34-for-64 (53 percent). Click to watch. highlights of this Big 5 classic.

“FRAN DUNPHY’S EMOTIONAL RETURN”: Penn 76, Temple 74 (January 24, 2007)
Mark Zoller sank three free throws with 1.4 seconds left after being fouled on a three-point attempt, and Penn rallied from a 19-point deficit to stun Temple, 76-74, spoiling Owls coach Fran Dunphy’s return to the Palestra. Ibrahim Jaaber led Penn with 21 points and was absolutely amazing. Once Jaaber got going, so did the Quakers, and they sent Dunphy home a loser in his emotional first game against his former team. Zoller scored nine of Penn’s final 12 points and finished with 19. Dionte Christmas scored a career-high 34 points for the Owls. Jaaber and Zoller rallied the Quakers to one of the more fantastic wins at the Palestra, the fabled home of the Big 5. Trailing 38-19, the Quakers went on a 27-8 run that spanned the first and second halves to tie the score at 46. From there, the game was tighter than the fans packed in the bleacher seats. After Christmas sank five 3-pointers in the first half, he made two free throws with 34.8 seconds left that gave Temple a 72-71 lead. Jaaber had a baseline layup blocked out of bounds, and his inbounds pass to Zoller was converted into a driving layup down the lane that made it 73-72 with 22 seconds to go. Christmas hit a jumper from the right wing and Temple went ahead 74-73, seemingly clinching the win for Dunphy and the Owls. But Zoller was fouled by Dion Dacons on a heaved three with 1.4 seconds left, sending one half of the crowd into a frenzy and quieting the other side. After Zoller converted all three free throws, Dustin Salisbery’s desperation shot was no good, and the Penn student section mobbed the court celebrating the win. Click to watch highlights.

“GLEN MILLER’S RETURN TO BROWN”: Penn 77, Brown 61 (February 2, 2007)
Mark Zoller scored 18 points and Brian Grandieri added 17 leading Penn to a 77-61 win over Brown. Mark McAndrew paced Brown with 15 points and five rebounds. Zoller had 16 points in the first half on 6-of-9 from the floor, and made all three of his three-point attempts. The Quakers scored on 7-of-10 three-point attempts in the first half, and 12-of-20 in the game while Brown struggled, making 1-of-11 three-pointers in the first half. Penn led by as much as 18 in the first half, and held a 41-26 advantage at intermission. The contest marked the return of former Brown head coach Glen Miller, who coached the Bears from 1999-2006 before taking the position with the Quakers. Click to watch some of the highlights.

“BRENNAN’S BREAKOUT GAME”: Penn 67, Harvard 53 (February 10, 2007)
On a night when its long-distance aim was off, Penn got a big boost from an unexpected source against Harvard. Brennan Votel, a 6-foot-7 sophomore who entered the game averaging 1.8 points, provided energy off the bench for the Quakers in their 67-53 win in front of 6,127 at The Palestra. Votel scored a career-high 11 points, including nine by halftime. In the first half, Votel made all four of his shots from the field, including a 3-pointer - only his third of the season and the only trey in 10 attempts for the Quakers all night. For the game, Votel hit 5-of-7 shots and had four rebounds in 16 effective minutes. Mark Zoller scored 17 points, while Brian Grandieri and Steve Danley each had 10 points for Penn. Ibrahim Jaaber, the Ivy League’s career steals leader, raised his career total to 279 with six steals. Jim Goffredo had 14 points and a career-high seven steals for the Crimson, who lost their 10th straight game to the Quakers. Penn led 32-26 at the half, and 48-37 after a three-point play by Zoller with 8:58 left in the game. Harvard then closed within 50-44 on two free throws by Goffredo, but the Quakers ran off 10 straight points, six by Kevin Egee, to help seal the win. Penn scored 13 straight points early in the first half to take a 15-7 lead, but Harvard answered with a 14-4 spurt to move out to a 21-19 lead. Penn came right back with a 13-2 run to take a 32-23 lead and never trailed again. Click to watch some of the highlights.

“THE PLAY”: Penn 83, Cornell 71 (February 17, 2007)
Ibrahim Jaaber scored 25 points and Mark Zoller had 24 points, six assists and six steals, leading Penn to an 83-71 victory over Cornell at The Palestra. Brian Grandieri added 10 points for Penn, which defeated Cornell for the 18th straight time and extended its home winning streak against Ivy League opponents to 19 games. Andrew Naeve tied his career high with 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Ryan Wittman had 15 points for the Big Red, who committed 20 turnovers. Trailing 42-31 early in the second half, Wittman sparked a 16-4 run that gave Cornell a 47-46 lead. The Big Red held a 53-50 lead with 12:32 left before the Quakers ran off 10 straight points for a 60-53 advantage, capped off by “The Play” -- an Ibby Jaaber inbounds pass that he threw off the back of Cornell’s Andrew Naeve to himself for a lay-in. Cornell closed within 64-61 on a layup by Wittman at the 6:23 mark, but Penn’s Michael Kach then hit a 3-pointer that started an 8-3 run and the Big Red never got closer than five points the rest of the way. Click to watch “The Play” or click to watch.highlights.

“CAM’S PUT-BACK JAM!”: Penn 86, Yale 58 (March 2, 2007)
Mark Zoller had 22 points, 17 rebounds and six assists, and Penn beat Yale, 86-58, to claim its third straight Ivy League championship and become the first team to secure a berth in the NCAA tournament. Ibrahim Jaaber had 13 points and seven assists, and Steve Danley 11 points for the Quakers, who won their eighth straight game and claimed the Ivy title for the fourth time in five years. Eric Flato and Ross Morin each had 11 points for Yale, which dealt Penn its only Ivy League loss, 77-68, earlier in the season. The Quakers hit seven of their first eight shots and opened the game with a 24-2 run. Zoller hit a 3-pointer to give Penn a 31-9 lead midway through the first half. The Bulldogs closed to 40-27, but Penn countered with a 9-2 run and held a 49-29 halftime lead. Yale never got closer than 15 points in the second half. Penn took its biggest lead at 77-46 with 6:56 left. As the Quakers’ thrashing of Yale neared its end, Cam Lewis soared high and rattled the rim with a one-handed put-back jam. Click to watch Cam Lewis’ put-back jam or click to watch ESPN Sports Center’s highlights.

Adrian Joseph had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Sean Singletary scored 16 points and No. 23 Virginia was unstoppable early on its way to a 100-85 victory over Penn in the Philly Hoop Group Classic. The Cavaliers  never let thoughts of upset hatch inside the heads of the Quakers. Fans were still looking for a spot on the bleacher seats when Joseph hit a pair of 3-pointers on an opening 12-2 run. Jamil Tucker and Calvin Baker each hit threes early that put them up 20-7 and it was time for Virginia’s seldom-used benchwarmers to start thinking about garbage time minutes. Virginia was so dominant -- 7-for-13 from three-point range in the first half -- that it didn’t even miss Singletary’s typical big game. Another statistical oddity was Penn freshman reserve Remy Cofield’s 20 points. Not bad for a freshman who was scoreless for the season on only three shots coming into the game. Click to watch Remy Cofield’s acrobatic layup.

“ARON COHEN’S HUGE 3-POINTER”: Penn 69, Monmouth 61 (December 8, 2007)
With just under four minutes remaining, and Penn clinging to a 52-51 lead over Monmouth, junior Aron Cohen received a pass and had an open look from just beyond the arc in front of the Quaker bench. He passed it up. A few seconds later, the ball swung back to him, in essentially the same spot. This time, he was ready and let fly. Swish. The bucket -- which came with 3:21 left on the clock -- served as the start to what ended up as a 10-0 run, and the result was a 69-61 Penn win at the Hawks’ Boylan Gym. The Quakers then sealed the win by going 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the final minutes. Brian Grandieri scored 21 points to lead Penn, who overcame a sloppy first half in which they committed 11 turnovers. Monmouth, which made 56 percent of it shots in the first half, led 34-30 at the break. Click to watch Aron Cohen’s huge 3-pointer.

“SEND IT IN, DANNY!”: Miami 88, Penn 62 (January 2, 2008)
The Hurricanes wore down the Quakers with an 11-0 run to start the second half, as Miami defeated Penn, 88-62. Dwayne Collins, who finished with 18 points, scored the first seven of the spurt. Brian Asbury, whose steal and layup with 18:29 remaining capped the run and increased Miami’s lead to 49-28, led the Hurricanes with 22 points. Jack McClinton’s 3-pointer with 7:30 left capped an 8-0 spurt and increased the Hurricanes’ advantage 72-42. The highlight for the Quakers was an alley-oop from Kevin Egee to freshman Danny Monckton, on Penn’s last possession, which closed out the scoring in the game. Cameron Lewis scored a career-high 13 points to lead Penn. The Quakers stayed within striking distance during the first 20 minutes. Jimmy Graham’s slam dunk with 11:29 left in the first half gave the Hurricanes an 18-9 lead. But Lewis scored three consecutive field goals in a 1:31 span as Penn reduced Miami’s lead 18-15. The Hurricanes responded with a 7-0 run and built their first double-digit lead of the half. Click to watch Danny Monckton’s alley-oop slam.

“SEND IT IN, JACK!”: Penn 79, NJIT 68 (January 5, 2008)
Brian Grandieri had 22 points and Cameron Lewis had 15 and nine rebounds, both career highs, as Penn struggled to a 79-68 victory over winless N. J. Tech. Tyler Bernardini also had 15 points for the Quakers, who committed 16 turnovers and missed 17 of 40 free throws in the game. Jheryl Wilson and Kraig Peters each had 12 points for the Highlanders, playing in only their second Division I season. N.J. Tech led 34-33 two minutes into the second half and trailed only 50-47 after a layup by Brendon Lyn with 12:30 left in the game. The Quakers then scored 11 straight points, six of them by Lewis, and the Highlanders never got closer than eight points after that. The highlight of the evening was Jack Eggleston’e alley-oop slam in the final seconds. Click to watch Jack Eggleston’s punctuation-mark alley-oop slam.

“THE GHOSTS OF THE PALESTRA”: Penn 68, Dartmouth 66 (February 2, 2008)
Jack Eggleston scored a career-high 16 points and Penn held off a spirited Dartmouth rally to defeat Big Green, 68-66. Penn led 60-48 with 9:54 left to play before Michael Giovacchini sparked a 16-3 run to give the Big Green a 64-63 lead. Penn moved ahead 67-64 before two free throws by DeVon Mosley cut the lead to 67-66. Kevin Egee then converted one of two free throws for the Quakers with 12.5 seconds left. Down, 68-66, and with just a few seconds left on the clock, the ball went into the hands of the Big Green’s Elgin Fitzgerald. He put up a shot from right under the hoop that rolled slowly around the rim, then hung on the rim...and hung...and hung...before, somehow, falling out at the buzzer. Perhaps the Ghosts of The Palestra had something to do with that. Click to watch the final seconds.

“THE SWALLOWED WHISTLE”: Cornell 94, Penn 92 (March 7, 2008)
The Quakers gave Ivy champion Cornell all it could handle, before succumbing to the Big Red, 94-92, in front of a crowd of 4,865 at The Palestra. The first half ended tied at 44-44, and the game was still tied at 58-58 until Penn took off on an 9-0 run, which was capped off when Cam Lewis faked a handoff to a teammate, blew by a Cornell defender and emphatically slammed home two points over another helpless Big Red player The Palestra was in full frenzy. Cornell kept its composure, though, and after trading baskets with the Quakers held Penn scoreless for eight minutes. During that stretch, the Big Red scored 15 unanswered points and gained all the momentum. It was not until Brian Grandieri hit a jumper with 4:03 remaining that Penn finally stopped the skid and made the score 75-71, Cornell. It looked like Cornell was going to keep Penn at bay, but funny things happened in the final minute that made you think another Palestra miracle might be in store. Down 91-81, with just 30 seconds to play, Harrison Gaines knocked down a trey. Penn then forced Cornell’s Louis Dale into a turnover which Tyler Bernardini quickly turned into three points. The Quakers then fouled Dale on the inbounds, and the national leader in free-throw percentage missed his first before making his second. That made the score 92-87 with 18 seconds to go. Gaines drove the length of the floor and knocked home a quick two, and then Penn fouled Dale again on the inbounds. The sophomore guard missed again, but then made the second, and the score was 93-89. Penn rushed the ball down the floor and got Bernardini open, and he hit another trey from way up top with 3.3 seconds left on the clock to make the score 93-92. Cornell immediately inbounded the ball to Ryan Wittman, the Ivy League’s third-leading scorer and an 88-percent foul shooter, and Penn put him on the line with 2.7 ticks to go. Wittman missed the first before making the second. That gave Penn one last gasp. Justin Reilly inbounded, throwing an overhand pass that Bernardini caught about 45 feet out, in front of the Quaker bench. He took a dribble to the middle of the floor and appeared to be going up for a potential game-winning 3-pointer when Cornell’s Adam Gore interfered, got him on the arm and the ball bounced away. To the dismay and ire of Penn’s fans, no call was made, and instead the horn blew to end the game. It was an unfortunate end to an incredible performance. Click to watch the second-half highlights.

“TYLER BERNARDINI’S BUZZER-BEATER”: Penn 69, Columbia 67 (March 8, 2008)
Penn and Columbia were tied, 67-67, with mere seconds on the clock. Tyler Bernardini got the ball near the top of the key, drove to the left corner, and put up a shot that never had a prayer of going in. Brian Grandieri muscled his way under the hoop, and in the ensuing scrum he somehow managed to punch the ball back out toward Bernardini. The freshman, without hesitation, again let fly, this time from about 10 feet out along the left baseline. This time, with 0.6 seconds left, it settled into the basket for two points. Penn 69, Columbia 67. The contest featured 10 ties (four in the second half) and 13 lead changes (five in the final 2:09), and the largest lead anyone held at any time was seven points, when Columbia grabbed a 56-49 advantage with just under nine minutes remaining on Mack Montgomery’s layup. Penn hung around, though, and finally tied the game at 62-62 with 2:44 to play, when Andreas Schreiber hit four foul shots over consecutive possessions. After a Montgomery turnover, Schreiber shook free on the block for a layup, and with 2:09 left Penn had its first lead in 17 minutes. The Lions patiently worked the clock, and John Baumann took advantage of a Justin Reilly foul to hit two free throws and tie the game with 1:37 left. Bernardini then was hit as he shot a 3-pointer, but could only convert one of the three foul shots to make the score 65-64. At the other end, as the clock went to its final minute, Niko Scott drove for a layup and Columbia was up 66-65. Grandieri put Penn back on top, 67-66, when he rebounded a Bernardini miss and put it in with 30 seconds left. That left Columbia with the opportunity to play for a winning shot, but after a timeout the Lions quickly got the ball to Scott for a drive. This time he was fouled as he went up, and with 16 seconds left he missed the first but made the second to tie the game at 67-67. That set the stage for Penn’s final points. Click to watch Tyler Bernardini’s buzzer-beater.

“JACK EGGLESTON’S FIRST-HALF BUZZER-BEATER”: Penn 84, Lafayette 70 (January 6, 2009)
Trailing 21-19, Penn got treys from Tyler Bernardini and Zack Rosen which started a 12-point run and gave the Red and Blue a 31-21 advantage. The run continued after an Andrew Brown three, as Bernardini hit a pair of free throws and then Jack Eggleston went on a personal five-point streak that ended with a trey at the halftime buzzer, putting Penn up 38-24. The second half was more of the same, as Penn countered a Lafayette deuce with four 3-pointers, building up a 50-26 lead before the half was three minutes old. Nine minutes later, the Quakers’ lead was still 66-44 when Lafayette went on a 17-4 run, closing the gap to 70-61. However, Eggleston hit a big-three pointer as the shot clock wound down, and the Leopards were unable to get closer than 11 after that, as the Quakers made good on their foul shots down the stretch, earning an 84-70 victory. Click to watch Jack Eggleston’s first-half buzzer-beater.

“CAM’S PUT-BACK JAM”: Penn 59, NJIT 40 (January 17, 2009)
Brennan Votel and Harrison Gaines each scored 15 points to lead Penn to a 59-40 win over NJIT, sending the Highlanders to their 51st consecutive loss, since it defeated Longwood on Feb. 19, 2007. Tyler Bernardini added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Quakers, who won for the third time in their last four games. Isaiah Wilkerson finished with 15 points and five rebounds for NJIT (0-18), while Gary Garris had 11 points. The teams traded the lead early on, but Penn closed with a 9-4 run to take a 25-18 lead at the break. The Quakers then took command early on in the second half, using a 17-4 run to pull away from the Highlanders. Penn also won the battle of the boards, outrebounding NJIT 38-29. Cameron Lewis provided the offensive highlight with an emphatic offensive rebound slam dunk, midway through the second half. Click to watch Cam Lewis’ put-back jam.

“KEVIN EGEE’S MIRACLE BUZZER-BEATER”: Penn 51, Columbia 50 (March 7, 2009)
Kevin Egee sank a 35-footer at the buzzer to give Penn a 51-50 victory against Columbia. Egee’s shot capped a second half that had eight ties and seven lead changes. Penn pulled to within 49-48 on Zack Rosen’s two free throws with 41 seconds to go. Noruwa Agho made a free throw put Columbia ahead 50-48 with 3.2 seconds left, setting up Egee’s long-distance winner. Egee finished with 15 points for Penn and Jack Eggleston scored 12. Rosen had 10 points. Kevin Bulger led the Lions with 10 points. Columbia went up 45-37 -- the biggest lead of the game -- on Bulger’s layup with 6:13 to play. Penn closed out the game with a 14-5 run. Click to watch Kevin Egee’s 35-foot buzzer-beater.

THE FRIENDLY POST-GAME HANDSHAKE: Navy 73, Penn 67 (December 4, 2009)
Penn kept coming back and coming back during the second half, but never got over the hump and lost a 73-67 decision at Navy. The Quakers trailed by eight with 3:28 remaining before a late rally. Penn was down just 63-60 with less than three minutes left when Zack Rosen knocked down a 3-pointer, his fourth of the half and fifth of the game, however, the Quakers would get no closer. There was a heated exchange, in the closing seconds, between Navy head coach Billy Lange and Penn assistant Jerome Allen, regarding a foul call on Navy’s Chris Harris. Fingers were pointed and curse words were yelled, and the heated exchange even carried over into the post-game handshake line. Click to watch the heated exchange between Navy’s Billy Lange and the Penn coaching staff during the post-game handshake.

“DAN MONCKTON’S JORDAN-ESQUE SLAM”: Albany 78, Penn 60 (December 8, 2009)
Penn got some spectacular baskets -- of particular note, how about Dan Monckton’s Jordan-esque slam on the break? -- but the Quakers had all sorts of problems at the other end and Albany kept Penn winless with a 78-60 victory at The Palestra. Albany did not seem to have much trouble scoring, shooting 54.1 percent from the field (33 of 61) and nailing six of its 13 three-point attempts. Leading 39-36 with 18:49 left, the Great Danes used a 20-7 run to pull away. Albany shot 57.1 percent (16-for-28) from the field in the second half while the Quakers were 34.8 percent (8-for-23). Click to watch Dan Monckton’s Jordan-esque slam.

JEROME ALLEN’S FIRST WIN AS HEAD COACH: Penn 82, UMBC 71 (January 6, 2010)
Penn put together a complete offensive effort at UMBC, and the result was an 82-71 win over the Retrievers that got the Quakers off the schneid and put them in the win column for the first time all season. It was also the first collegiate win for Penn’s interim head coach, Jerome Allen. Zack Rosen had another monster game, scoring 28 points including what ended up being eight free throws in the final minute. The performance was welcomed by a partisan Penn crowd that made the trip south of Baltimore to witness Coach Allen’s first victory. Click to watch Darren Smith’s 3-pointer to end the first half and give Penn a 35-33 halftime lead.

“DAN MONCKTON’S PUTBACK BUZZER-BEATER”: Penn 55, Brown 54 (January 30, 2010)
Dan Monckton’s putback at the buzzer lifted Penn to a dramatic 55-54 win over Brown, at the Pizzitola Center. Monckton finished the game with 11 points and five rebounds for Penn. Zack Rosen headed the charge with 19 points, while Jack Eggleston added 18 points and nine rebounds. Tucker Halpern came off the bench to lead Brown with 14 points. Penn shot only 32.1 percent from the floor in the first half, allowing Brown to grab a 26-22 halftime advantage. The Quakers trailed 54-53 with five seconds left, but were able to grab the rebound after Halpern missed the front end of a one-and-one. Penn then moved down court and Zack Gordon took a 3-point shot, which came up short, but Monckton grabbed the board and laid it in as time expired. Referee Kevin Quirk took a moment to consider what he had just seen, then lowered his arm and put forth two fingers to signal that the basket counted. Brown coach Jesse Agel angrily confronted Quirk after the final buzzer. To many, the shot was released after the backboard light went on, but with no TV replay monitor available, the call stood and the Quakers ran off the floor celebrating. The irony is that the first half ended in almost exactly the same fashion, except in Brown’s favor. On that play, an Andrew McCarthy trey attempt was snared by Matt Mullery who then put it in at the buzzer on a bucket that was also ruled good. Apparently, what goes around comes around. Click to watch Matt Mullery’s first-half buzzer-beater or click to watch Dan Monckton’s game-winning putback buzzer-beater.

“PENN STUNS #22 CORNELL”: Penn 79, Cornell 64 (February 12, 2010)
In a dramatic and unexpected turn of events, Penn stunned No. 22 Cornell — heavily favored to win the game and the Ivy League — 79-64, at The Palestra. Cornell was expected to roll through the Quakers, but it was clear from the get-go that Penn would hang with the Big Red on this night. The first half was closely contested and Penn went into the break with a 32-31 lead behind a 5-of-13 showing from long distance. In the second half, the Quakers shot a scorching 65.2 percent from the floor, including 6-of-8 from long range, as they pulled away for the 15-point victory. Penn came out of the locker room on fire, ripping off 15 straight points to take a 47-31 lead. The intensity rose dramatically moments later when a tussle broke out after Cornell center Jeff Foote got tied up with Penn’s Mike Howlett. Howlett was called for an intentional foul, and the game picked up after a short break. Unfortunately for the Quakers, the near-fight appeared to light a fire under the previously listless Big Red, as they scored the next six points, cutting into Penn’s lead. But Penn would not be denied a monumental upset, as it continued to sink jumpers from deep. The Red and Blue finished 11-for-21 from beyond the arc, sparked by Jack Eggleston, who hit four of his five 3-point attempts and led the Quakers with a career-high 24 points. Zack Rosen added 22, while Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman paced the Big Red with 16 points apiece. Click to watch highlights of Penn’s 15-0 run to open the second half.

“MILES’ ARRIVAL”: Penn 69, Davidson 64 (November 13, 2010)
Freshman Miles Cartwright scored all 18 of his points in the first half and Jack Eggleston had a double-double to lead Penn to a 69-64 win over Davidson in the season opener for both teams. The Quakers won their opening game for the first time since 2005. Eggleston finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, plus four blocks. Cartwright, who also had three steals, came in for Zack Rosen, who had foul trouble in the first half, but still finished with 15 points. Cartwright missed much of the second half with a cramp. Tyler Bernardini hit 1 of 2 foul shots to give Penn a 65-60 lead with 24 seconds left. Davidson scored twice more, but after each bucket, Eggleston hit a pair of free throws. The Wildcats had four players in double-figures, led by Clint Mann and Brendan McKillop with 12 points each. De’Mon Brooks had 11 and Jake Cohen added 10. Click to watch Miles Cartwright give Penn a nine-point, first-half lead.

Kentucky 86, Penn 62 (January 3, 2011)
For 17 minutes, Penn did exactly what it wanted to do against No. 10 Kentucky. The Quakers got open shots and they hit them. Defensively, Penn fought hard and made Kentucky work for everything. As a result, the Red and Blue found themselves up on the Wildcats, 32-21, and the Rupp Arena faithful were doing everything they could to exhort their team to get started. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened. Kentucky scored the last 12 points of the opening half, taking a 33-32 lead into the break, and the tone was set for the second half. When the game was over, Kentucky had hit 22 of its final 28 field goals -- including a staggering 18 of 22 in the second half -- and rolled to an 86-62 victory. Brandon Knight scored 22 points and Doron Lamb added 16 off the bench for Kentucky. Penn got 22 points from Tyler Bernardini and 16 from Miles Cartwright. Click to watch first-half highlights as Penn opens up a 29-17 lead.

La Salle 89, Penn 83 (OT) (January 12, 2011)
Ruben Guillandeaux scored 24 points to lead La Salle to an 89-83 overtime victory over Penn, at Tom Gola Arena. Penn mounted a furious comeback, using a 17-4 run down the stretch to turn a 72-59 deficit into a 76-76 game at the end of regulation. The Penn comeback began when Tyler Bernardini (17 points) converted a pair of free throws to make the score 72-61. La Salle’s Cole Stefan missed a three-pointer, and at the other end Jack Eggleston (16 points, 12 rebounds) knocked down a trey to make the score 72-64. Nearly a full minute went by before Zack Rosen (19 points) hit one of two foul shots with 1:59 left in regulation. Guillandeaux then missed a layup before turning the ball over, and Rosen juked a pair of defenders to shake free for an easy layup. Suddenly, the score was 72-67. After Tyreek Duren (15 points) knocked down a pair of foul shots to make the score 74-67, Rosen answered with a trey, making the score 74-70. Guillandeaux upped the lead to six with two free throws, but Rosen drained another trey and then after Guillandeaux missed a jumper at the other end, Eggleston was fouled as he went up for the tying three-pointer. The senior forward calmly knocked down all three shots, and the game was tied with 24 seconds left. The Explorers scored 10 of the first 12 points in overtime, starting with a Guillandeaux three-point play. His two free throws extended the lead to 86-78 with 47 seconds left. La Salle’s Aaric Murray added 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Click to watch some of the highlights of Penn’s furious comeback.

“I BELIEVE THAT WE JUST WON”: Penn 55, Harvard 54 (February 25, 2012)

The amazing senior season for Penn’s Zack Rosen continued as he sank two free throws with 23.2 seconds remaining to give Penn a 55-54 upset victory over Harvard before a sellout crowd of 2,195 at Lavietes Pavilion, ending the Crimson’s 28-game home winning streak. Harvard had a chance to clinch at least a share of the Ivy title with a victory. Instead, the Quakers (17-11, 9-2 Ivy) moved to within a half-game of the Crimson (24-4, 10-2) in the league standings. Trailing Harvard by 11 in the second half, Penn was searching for an offensive spark and got it from Rosen. The point guard scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the game’s final 12:46. The Quakers hit on just 8 of 19 from the field in the first half and trailed 30-24 at intermission. Harvard upped its lead to 35-24 early in the second half, but the Quakers cut it to one point, 37-36, with a 12-2 run. Rosen capped the spree with a long three-pointer. The Quakers stayed within arm’s reach through most of the second half, although they still trailed by eight, 49-41, with 5:58 to play. The Quakers edged closer until they drew to within one point, 54-53, when Rosen whirled and dropped in a 10-footer with 1:24 to go. Moments later, with the ball back in his hands, Rosen drew the foul that put him on the line for the decisive free throws. Kyle Casey (team-high 12 points) appeared to put the Crimson back in front with 3.5 seconds remaining when he tossed in a layup. However, he plowed into Penn guard Tyler Bernardini in the process and was charged with an offensive foul that wiped out the basket, much to the chagrin of the animated Harvard fans who only moments earlier declared, in their favorite chant, “I believe that we will win”. After the game, as the Penn players emerged from the visitors locker room with their hands lifted in the air, the Penn Band started chanting, “I believe that we just won”. Click to watch highlights of the closing minutes.