M. Hoops | Back on track

The sign was kind of clever, you had to admit.

"Penningitis," it read, courtesy of the Princeton band. "Terminally Infectious Since 1740."

But the Tigers' trumpet-wielders had it all wrong. There was no disease in the air at Jadwin Gym on this night - just some serious allergies to the bottom of the net.

In the rivalry's 219th installment, the Quakers' ball-hawking defense and second-chance scoring proved the antidote in the mutual clank-fest, allowing Penn to escape with a 62-55 overtime victory.

The teams combined to shoot just 35 percent from the field on the night, including a 23-percent clip in the extra period.

"If you look at how Princeton lost their last couple games [at Yale and Brown], they got beat up on the offensive glass and points in the paint," said Penn coach Glen Miller, whose team forced 20 turnovers and secured 18 offensive boards. "[Exploiting] that was a huge key for us coming into this game."

Trailing by two at the half, Penn (8-13, 4-3 Ivy) opened the second frame on a 16-5 run to claim a 45-36 advantage with 9:12 to play.

Over the next five minutes, though, the Quakers went scoreless, giving the home squad an opening. During the stretch, nine straight points from forwards Zach Finley and Patrick Saunders catapulted the Tigers (9-11, 4-3) into a 45-45 tie.

In the midst of Princeton's spurt, Penn forward Conor Turley was whistled for a flagrant foul - grounds for ejection - after elbowing Saunders in the nose while jockeying for post position. The officiating crew convened for several minutes and consulted video replay before reaching their decision.

"If no one gets hurt, it's not a Princeton-Penn game," Princeton coach Sydney Johnson said. "We didn't want to retaliate or anything like that."

With the teams largely trading baskets for the rest of the second half, a pair of free throws from Finley - who led the Tigers with 12 points and 15 rebounds - knotted the score at 51 with 23 seconds left.

On Penn's final possession in regulation, guard Tyler Bernardini misfired on an off-balance, contested look from the top of the key.

"I had our guys run something we hadn't run in a long time, and we didn't run it right," Miller said. "I've got to take responsibility there."

In overtime, Penn tallied the period's first three points from the foul line and never trailed again. Its only field goal of the extra session came on a deep three from freshman guard Zack Rosen, which put the Quakers up four with under two minutes to go.

"The three goes to Harrison Gaines for sure," Rosen said. "He definitely made a good play coming off the hand-off . I just finished it for him."

Rosen outdueled Princeton freshman Douglas Davis in their inaugural battle at the point, notching 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Davis shot a woeful 3-for-13 from the field, recorded no assists and turned the ball over four times.

Still, after his first taste of the program's most heated rivalry, Penn's southpaw signal-caller has more on his mind than mere individual comparisons.

"I'm just glad we won a game on TV," he said. "We've played six, seven games on TV and haven't won any of them. I've got a lot of friends watching."

Indeed, after three straight Ivy triumphs on the road, Rosen and the Quakers are just hopeful that the recent success - like knowledge or meningococcal infection - will be contagious.

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