M. Hoops eats Dartmouth for dinner

Dan Solomito became the most popular man on campus to the 4,345 in attendance at the Palestra on Saturday night.

His three-pointer with 10 seconds left gave the Penn men's basketball team 100 points, and treated the fans in attendance to a free cheesesteak at Abner's for the first time since Dec. 7, 1996, when the Red and Blue topped Lehigh, 100-58.

Despite the cheesesteak euphoria, the Quakers' (19-6, 5-3 Ivy League) performance in their 100-62 rout over Dartmouth (9-14, 2-8) cannot be overlooked. Penn guard Andrew Toole led the way for Penn, scoring 23 points on 8 of 11 shooting.

But all five Penn starters made contributions on Saturday. Forward Koko Archibong was 100 percent from the field, hitting all five of his shots and making his three free throws for 14 points.

Ugonna Onyekwe added 12 points on 60 percent shooting, and Tim Begley shot 5 for 6 overall and 3 for 4 from beyond the arc, had eight rebounds, and six assists, as the Quakers shot 64.4 percent from the field for the game.

And although Penn sophomore Jeff Schiffner only had five points, the guard's defense on Dartmouth's leading scorer Flinder Boyd was tremendous, as Boyd only had five points for the game, almost 14 below his average..

The Quakers led, 88-49, after Charlie Copp's three-pointer with 6:37 to play, but did not score again until the 2:34 mark on a Jon Tross layup.

The Quakers then heated up in the final minute, as freshman reserve Patrick Lang hit a three pointer from the right corner with 58 seconds to play and then stole the ball. Solomito quickly converted a layup to put the Quakers at 97 points.

Another Freshman, Nameir Majette, blocked a shot, and Solomito made a steal and hurried it up the court.

After a few passes, Duane King faked a drive and sent it to Solomito, who sent the Palestra crowd into euphoria with his three.

Penn led, 50-21, at the half. The Quakers shot 69 percent in the first half, and hit 7 of 11 three-pointers in each half. The 14 treys in one contest is tied for third-best in Penn history with the Dec. 18, 1993 114-74 win over Haverford, behind the Lehigh game in 1995 -- 15 threes -- and this season's 16 three-pointer performance in a 89-80 win over Drexel.

In other Ivy League action tonight, Princeton came back to beat Harvard, 70-59, Yale topped Columbia, 76-56, and Brown squeaked by Cornell, 81-78.

Penn is two games back of Ivy League-leading Yale. The Elis only have four games remaining, and will clinch at least a share of the title if they split their final four contests and Princeton loses at least one game.

In Penn women's basketball on Saturday, the Quakers defeated Dartmouth, 64-60. Freshmen Katie Kilker and Karen Habrukowich combined for 36 points and Jewel Clark had a double-double -- 12 points and 13 rebounds -- for the Quakers.

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