Penn sweeps opening Ivy weekend

The Penn men's basketball team had little difficulty disposing of two Ivy League rivals at the Palestra over the weekend, as the Red and Blue finally opened their conference schedule. With or without starting point guard Andrew Toole, the story was the same -- a convincing Penn win. The Quakers (10-5, 2-0 Ivy League) cruised past Dartmouth, 73-50, on Friday night before defeating Harvard (10-7, 2-2), 75-59, on Saturday. Toole, who sprained his right ankle in Tuesday night's victory over La Salle, was inactive on Friday and dressed in street clothes. He returned to the lineup on Saturday night. Junior guard Charlie Copp started in his place against the Big Green (4-13, 0-4), with senior David Klatsky providing effective minutes off the bench. "The guards are all pretty similar -- we play well together," Klatsky said. "Toole steps out, a guy like Chuck [Copp] steps in, and it doesn't really change much." Despite the pregame chants of "We want cheesesteaks" by the fans who remembered Penn's 100-point effort against Dartmouth last year, the Quakers' offense was quiet in the first half of their Ivy opener. The Red and Blue were fortunate, however, that the Big Green had even more trouble getting their shots to fall. Still, Dartmouth tied the game at 18 with 4:08 remaining in the first, when Dartmouth freshman guard Mike Lang drilled a three from the left side. But Penn used a 12-0 run to close the half, capped by a Ugonna Onyekwe three-pointer with nine seconds left. That was Onyekwe's lone basket in the first 20 minutes, but he came alive in the second stanza when he began to drive the lane. "I think he opened it up for himself," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "I thought he adjusted pretty well in the second half." Onyekwe, Klatsky and sophomore guard Tim Begley all finished with 14 points to lead all scorers in the game. The Quakers also enjoyed a significant advantage on the glass, outrebounding Dartmouth, 39-22, including a 19-5 edge on the offensive boards. "I think it's very important," Dunphy said. "We had a number of second chance opportunities. Even if you don't convert on those, it's kind of demoralizing to the opposition." The rebounding disparity led to Penn attempting 19 more shots than the Big Green. Toole returned on Saturday night to lead the Quakers not only in shot attempts but also field goals, points, and assists. The Red Bank, N.J., native scored 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting against Harvard, including 11 in the game's first 10 minutes.

He showed no signs of pain or rust as he connected on his first four shots, including a three-pointer that gave Penn a 21-8 advantage midway through the first half. The Quakers stalled slightly once Toole cooled down a bit and allowed the Crimson to creep to within 32-26 at intermission. "There were little things we could have done to put more space between us and them," Dunphy said, referring specifically to missed free throws. "But they're a good basketball team, and I was quite sure they were going to make a nice run a couple times during the game." Penn wasted little time in asserting its dominance in the second half, however. On the Quakers' first possession, senior forward Koko Archibong nailed a three from straight-away. Junior guard Jeff Schiffner followed that with a trey from the right corner to quickly increase the Penn lead to 12. These two shots were a microcosm of how the remainder of the night would go, as Penn finished a remarkable 11-for-20 from downtown. "I think for us the story of the game was the thing that we had talked a lot about -- Penn's uncanny ability from the three-point line," Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. "They've probably got more answers on the perimeter than any team in the Ivy League."

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