Ivy Champs, Penn Is Dancing

Geoff Owens scored 14 points and sparked the decisive run to start the second half as Penn defeated Princeton 73-48 Tuesday night to win the Ivy League championship and earn its first NCAA berth in four years.

Penn (21-5 overall, 13-1 Ivy League) avenged an earlier loss to the Tigers in which the Quakers blew a 27-point lead. Princeton (20-7, 11-3) lost streaks of seven straight victories over Penn, three straight Ivy titles and 26 straight Ivy victories at home.

Penn's starters combined for 68 points as Jed Ryan scored 15, Paul Romanczuk, Matt Langel and Michael Jordan had 13 apiece. Chris Young led Princeton with 17 points while seniors Gabe Lewullis and Brian Earl, the team's leading scorers, were held to a combined 17.

Princeton shot only 35 percent for the game.

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Penn and Paul Romanczuk slipped right past Princeton. (AP)

After a first half that included eight lead changes and nine ties, Jordan's 3-pointer with one second left gave Penn a 29-26 lead, and the Quakers didn't trail again. Penn opened the second half with nine straight points, and the run extended to 24-8 as the Quakers opened a 53-34 lead with 9:34 remaining.

Owens, playing despite a broken jaw that was wired shut, scored six points as Penn used a 15-2 run to start the half and take a 44-28 lead. Princeton cut the deficit to 10 on 3-pointers by Ahmed El-Nokali and Brian Earl, but Penn responded with nine straight.

Princeton got no closer than 58-45 with 3:29 left and Penn hit eight of nine from the foul line in the final 3:15 to ice it.

Penn won its 18th Ivy League title and first ince it shared the championship with Princeton in 1996.

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