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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Penn
Players Mentioned
Penn Pulls Away for 48-35 Victory over Men's Basketball
February 13, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Mark Zoller had four of his game-high 17 points in a 12-0 second-half run for Penn and Ibrahim Jaaber sealed the run with a steal and dunk with five minutes left as the Quakers pulled away from Princeton, 48-35, in the 215th renewal of one of college basketball's greatest rivalries Tuesday night at The Palestra.
Princeton (10-11, 1-6 Ivy) trailed 27-19 at halftime but made a big run early in the second half, holding the Quakers (15-8, 6-1 Ivy) to just one field goal in the first nine minutes of the half. The Tigers scored 10 straight points in a seven-minute span to tie the game at 29-29 with 11:24 left, but Penn's Steve Danley would put his team ahead for good 11 seconds later with a layup that began the game-changing 12-0 run.
After Zoller scored his four points to make it 35-29 with 8:22 on the clock, Brian Grandieri then made two free throws and a short jumper to make it 39-29 with 6:09 left. Jaaber then stole the ball near the top of the key and broke down the court for a dunk that made it 41-29 with 5:07 left.
Princeton's 10-0 run that tied the game featured driving layups from Marcus Schroeder and Justin Conway and a three-pointer from Luke Owings. Lincoln Gunn then made the first of two free throws with 11:24 left to tie the game, but his second attempt was no good and the Tigers never took the lead.
The Tigers went without a field goal for more than nine minutes while Penn made its run, with Kevin Steuerer's layup with 4:03 left breaking the run to pull Princeton back within 10 points.
"We had a chance to go ahead on the line and then with a couple open threes but couldn't knock them down," said Joe Scott, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 Head Coach of Men's Basketball at Princeton. "They have an experienced senior-laden team that knew it was the time of the game to make plays and they made them."
LIncoln Gunn led Princeton with eight points, but the Tigers shot just 31% from the field and 4 for 19 from three-point range.
Zoller added eight rebounds for Penn, which remained in first place in the Ivy League standings one-half game ahead of both Cornell and Yale.
Penn scored the game's first five points, but the Tigers were still only down five late in the half when Marcus Schroeder's layup made it 19-14 with 4:32 left. Penn would then score six straight points to take a double-digit lead before Princeton cut its deficit to single digits at halftime.
Princeton outrebounded the Quakers 36-31. Both Kevin Steuerer, who played 23 minutes off the bench, and Kyle Koncz, who played 20 minutes off the bench despite a foot injury, grabbed seven rebounds.
Princeton held the Quakers to just 35% shooting for the game. Penn was just 1 for 8 from three-point range.
The Tigers host Cornell and Columbia this weekend at Jadwin Gym. Friday's game against the Big Red will be televised live by ESPNU at 7 p.m.