Penn puts the future on display

Playing to show the Ivies what's to come, M. Hoops put on a clinic at the expense of Lions, Big Red. After a season of lopsided defeats to top-20 foes and close losses in the Ivy League, Penn finally got what it wanted last weekend -- a pair of good, old-fashioned routs. The Quakers coasted through two of their easiest wins of the year, beating Cornell 77-56 Friday night and Columbia 72-56 Saturday night at the Palestra. In doing so, Penn (12-13, 8-5 Ivy League) took care of two-thirds of its season-ending mission. "We're looking to send a message," Penn sophomore forward Paul Romanczuk said. "We're looking to come out and win these last three games, two this weekend, and going to Princeton and beat them there." The third part comes tomorrow night, but the Quakers can take pride in their convincing close to the home season. Neither the Big Red nor the Lions ever showed signs of winning, as Penn led all 80 minutes during the two games. Penn was concerned about Cornell (15-11, 7-7), and especially its power forward John McCord, who gave possibly the most dominating performance of the Ivy League season (23 points, 20 rebounds) in leading his team over the Quakers three weeks ago. In addition, Penn was without the services of George Mboya (strained hamstring) and was left with only Romanczuk, Jed Ryan and Geoff Owens as regulars in the frontcourt. But McCord was a non-factor, rarely touching the ball as Penn ran out to an insurmountable 41-26 halftime lead. "I didn't get enough shots tonight," said McCord, who finished with 14 points but took only six shots. "It was my fault -- I wasn't working hard enough to get open. We just didn't come to play tonight." Penn adopted a new method of playing the junior college transfer after being burned in Ithaca, N.Y. "We talked about not going out to guard the other big guy (center Jeffrion Aubry) so much to try to get as much help on McCord as we could, knowing he really hurt us up there," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. The Quakers got balanced scoring with 18 points from Romanczuk leading five double-digit scorers. Penn shot 15-of-27 (55.6 percent) in the decisive first half. The story was much the same a night later, except with Columbia (6-20, 1-13) playing the role of battered visitors. Penn held leads of 15-3 and 30-11 before the game settled into extensive garbage time in the second half. Columbia's offense primarily consisted of giving the ball to guard C.J. Thompkins and watching him shoot it. The senior guard hoisted 21 shots (over half of the Columbia shots while he was in the game) en route to a game-high 26 points. Columbia coach Armond Hill had a simple explanation for his team's disappointing season-ending showing. "We shot 5-for-24," the second-year coach said. "We were getting open shots, but when you're shooting 5-for-24 and the other team makes their shots?" Romanczuk again led the way for Penn's multiple double-digit scorers, this time with 19 points. He took his game further outside than usual, even trying two three-pointers and making one. "I think Paul's an outstanding scorer," Dunphy said. "He can get his shots both from the perimeter and? he's pretty effective going to the hoop." On the defensive end, Owens, the 6-foot-11 freshman center, stood out early. His two first-half blocks, one of which ended a fast break, ignited the crowd. He also hit three of six field goals after going scoreless against the Big Red. Now, for the Quakers, it's on to part three.

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