(Penn - 51, Columbia - 47) (Penn - 78, Cornell - 53)
ITHACA, N.Y. -- In the past month, the Ivy League has learned something important about the Penn men's basketball team.
When the Quakers get hot, they cannot be stopped.
In a 51-47 win at Columbia (11-17, 4-10 Ivy League) and in a 78-53 victory at Cornell (5-22, 2-12), the Red and Blue (23-6, 10-3) once again showed just how dangerous they can be when they get on a run.
The Quakers used a 23-2 run in New York to reverse a 15-point Columbia lead on Friday night, then went on 15-0 spurts in each half in Ithaca the next night in their demolition of Cornell.
Penn has now won eight straight games, and can set up the first-ever three-way tie for an Ivy League championship with a victory over Princeton tomorrow night at the Palestra.
In the first meeting of the two arch-rivals last month, Penn forward Ugonna Onyekwe scored 17 points on 7 for 11 shooting and pulled down 10 rebounds.
It is difficult to improve on such a performance, especially considering the intensity of any Penn-Princeton game, but from a statistical standpoint, Onyekwe was even better on Saturday night than he was at Old Nassau. The junior made all 10 of his field goal attempts and went 7 for 8 from the free throw line to post 28 points. Onyekwe also hauled in nine rebounds in his 28 minutes of work.
"Ugonna has -- jeez! -- 10-for-10, 7-for-8, that's a great game for him," Penn guard David Klatsky said. "Get him the ball when he's doing well."
Klatsky was doing well in his own right on Saturday night. The Penn sixth man made all three of his three-point attempts and finished with 10 points, well above his season average of 3.6 per game.
Like almost all of the Quakers, Klatsky was better against the Big Red than he was on Friday night at Levien Gym. A night before shooting 60 percent from the field at Cornell, the Red and Blue hit just 41 percent of their shots in an ugly game against the Lions.
The Quakers found themselves down by 15 in Morningside Heights before Onyekwe's three-point play with one-tenth of a second left before halftime cut Columbia's lead to 12 at intermission.
The Quakers trailed by as many as 16 points in a first half marked by poor Penn shooting and aimless passing. The Red and Blue shot just 33 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes at Columbia, including a 1 for 6 effort from downtown. Penn also turned the ball over six times and registered just five assists.
The Lions, meanwhile, could not seem to miss if they tried. Columbia went 14 for 26 from the field in the first half on Friday. The Lions turned several ridiculous-looking shots into points, including a line-drive three-pointer by Derrick Mayo and a shot by Craig Austin that seemed to bounce around the rim forever before finally going in.
"In the first half, I thought they made some really tough shots," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "Our offense wasn't very good. We were forcing things and not making very good decisions, but somehow, some way, these guys got it back together at the start of the second half and started making shots."
They did indeed. Penn shot 48 percent from the field in the second half and committed only two turnovers on the way to escaping New York with a four-point victory.
Onyekwe led all scorers with 14 points and made a layup as time ran down to seal the win for the Quakers.
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