I don't think anyone was expecting the Quakers to make it to the postseason heading into tonight, but now it's official. All that the league-leading Harvard Crimson had to do was win to eliminate Penn from mathematically being able to win the Ivy League, and they did just that. Harvard beat Cornell tonight to reach 10 wins, a feat that is now impossible for the Quakers to match.
Back in Philadelphia, Penn welcomed Brown to the Palestra tonight to try to avenge their 62-55 loss the last time the teams played. Penn did not play a bad game tonight, they even had only 1 more turnover than their opponent, a rare feat for them. (16 is still entirely too many though) Unfortunately, Brown was always one step ahead of Penn tonight. Penn was never out of the game, but they also never led the game even once. This all resulted in a 76-67 win.
Steven Spieth led the way for Brown with 19 points and 12 assists. Cedric Kuakumensah also scored a double-double for Brown with 16 points and 10 assists. Brazilian Rafael Maia leads the Ivy Leauge in rebounds and added 10 more tonight. All around, a great team effort by the Bears helped them prevail.
On Penn's side of the ball, Tony Hicks was the leading scorer with 25. Fran Dougherty added 12 points and 10 rebounds. With the game winding down in the second half Penn made a bit of a run. Tony Hicks hit a 3 pointer with 1:16 left to make it 68-61 and pump a little life back into the Quakers, but 72-67 was as close as Penn would make it.
Penn is now playing for pride these next 3 games. The best record Penn can hope to finish the season with is 8-6. Harvard now can't finish worse than 10-4. In the Ivy League, a one-bid conference where the regular season winner goes straight to the NCAA tournament, this eliminates Penn completely. The Quakers go for that next moral victory (which as a recent SJU grad I've experienced many times the past few...not fun) tomorrow night at 7 vs. the Yale Bulldogs.
-Ben Lebo
Follow us on Twitter: @BroadStBeat
Steven Spieth led the way for Brown with 19 points and 12 assists. Cedric Kuakumensah also scored a double-double for Brown with 16 points and 10 assists. Brazilian Rafael Maia leads the Ivy Leauge in rebounds and added 10 more tonight. All around, a great team effort by the Bears helped them prevail.
On Penn's side of the ball, Tony Hicks was the leading scorer with 25. Fran Dougherty added 12 points and 10 rebounds. With the game winding down in the second half Penn made a bit of a run. Tony Hicks hit a 3 pointer with 1:16 left to make it 68-61 and pump a little life back into the Quakers, but 72-67 was as close as Penn would make it.
Penn is now playing for pride these next 3 games. The best record Penn can hope to finish the season with is 8-6. Harvard now can't finish worse than 10-4. In the Ivy League, a one-bid conference where the regular season winner goes straight to the NCAA tournament, this eliminates Penn completely. The Quakers go for that next moral victory (which as a recent SJU grad I've experienced many times the past few...not fun) tomorrow night at 7 vs. the Yale Bulldogs.
-Ben Lebo
Follow us on Twitter: @BroadStBeat
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