Second chances key Quakers' win

On Saturday night at the Palestra, Yale surged ahead early and did not relinquish its advantage until Koko Archibong nailed a pair of free-throws with 3:08 left in the game.

It was a game that Yale looked to have in control for the majority of the contest.

But like the errant first-half pass that hit Penn coach Fran Dunphy in the head, the Elis threw the game away.

For the Red and Blue in their 72-63 victory -- with an electric crowd hanging on every offensive and defensive possession -- the contest was all about second chances.

Penn guard Andrew Toole -- held scoreless in the Quakers' loss in New Haven, Conn. -- got his second shot at making his mark against the Elis.

And he made the most of his chance.

Though he missed several open looks from three-point range in the first half, the junior hit 9 of 10 free throws and paced all scorers with 20 points.

"I had a rough one up there, and it looked like it was going to be another rough one here," Toole said.

Penn's late comeback-win also allowed the Quakers to get right back into the thick of the Ivy race.

After opening the season with a league record of 2-3, the Quakers' title prospects looked dim--six consecutive wins later, Penn sees things much differently.

The Quakers six-game win streak all started with the disappointing 83-78 loss Feb. 8 at Yale. Penn waited 15 days to avenge the loss to the upstart Elis.

Saturday night, the Elis could have erased the Quakers' Ivy League hopes for good -- and looked for a while as if they would.

But they couldn't shut the door on the resilient Quakers, who rallied for a huge victory.

"Penn is too good not to go for a run and we knew that we had to match it," Yale coach James Jones said. "We did that until the last three minutes of the game, but then the ball started bouncing the opposite way."

These bouncing balls fortuitously found their way into the hands of Penn guards Tim Begley and Jeff Schiffner, who each hit key three-pointers to keep the Quakers ahead. Judging by the first half, three pointers falling for Penn was the unlikeliest of outcomes.

While the Red and Blue shoot 40.1 percent from behind the arc on the season, the Quakers started the game an ice-cold 0 for 9. Not exactly the start Penn was looking for in a must-win contest.

On the other side of the court, Yale -- 34.6 percent from downtown on the season -- were shooting the lights out from long range.

The Elis knocked down 11 threes in the game, led by Gamboa, who drilled 5 of 7.

It was Yale's red-hot three-point shooting that kept the Quakers from making a significant dent in the Elis' lead until about six minutes left.

"In the second half every time we cut into the lead they seemed to push it back out to seven or eight points again," Toole said. "We just kept chipping away point by point and we were able to overcome it."

Helping Penn chip away were a number of mental lapses by an unseasoned Yale team.

When Penn's Koko Archibong hit two foul shots to give Penn its first lead, the Elis proceeded to throw the ball out-of -bounds.

And in a key series of events that led to Begley's three, Archibong made a steal from after a missed Ugonna Onyekwe lay-up to preserve the Penn lead.

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