ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The Explorers begin fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives against Duquesne.

FINAL: La Salle 82, Duquesne 79

Wow, Mensah gets confused on a screen and throws it into his own bench. He must have thought that his teammate was flaring when he was, in fact cutting.

Guillandeaux nails two from the line, Duquesne’s Reggie Jackson misses a three for the tie with Guillandeaux in his face (though making sure not to foul), and this game is over. La Salle is three wins away.

What a game, Jackson was unstoppable, but cooled down just at the right moment. What a shot Darnell Harris made to tie the game at 79, he is just unconscious. His passing was horrible at times, but he can shoot from NBA range with anyone in this league.

0:21.1 2nd Half: La Salle 80, Duquesne 79

No friggin way…. Harris pulls up from a good 27 feet an drains the three.

Even more incredible - after getting fouled Green (a 72.4 percent shooter from the line) continues the Explorers’ woes from the stripe, but does convert on the second to go up by one…

While the suspense is killing all in the building, the Dukes’ cheerleaders have fallen a fourth time.

1:04 2nd Half: La Salle 76, Duquesne 79

Harris is having a very bad passing day -throwing another intercepted ball, and nearling giving it away the next time down. Fortunately, for La Salle, they got a stop.

Jerrell Williams and James trade hook shots to keep the Dukes’ lead at two, but Harris draws a foul while dribbling, and ties it up at the line.

Oh, what a huge three by Reggie Jackson as Harris can’t get out in time, and Green is caught on the charge. Big turnaround with under two to go. Duquesne somehow loses the ball, slipped out of a guard’s hands, and La Salle takes over. Dr. John Giannini flips out at Guillandeaux for calling the timeout a few feet short of the halfcourt mark.
3:12 2nd Half: La Salle 72, Duquesne 73

Sorry, the wireless just cut out at the wrong time and deleted my last post. A Harris three cut the lead to two, and the game continues to go back and forth.

Bad news for La Salle. Not only does Johnson foul out, Green hits the ground in pain, but he is able to walk off the court on his own power.

7:26 2nd Half: La Salle 65, Duquesne 69

Harris makes a lazy pass that Reggie Jackson intercepts for an open layup, and the Dukes go up seven. Jerrell Williams missing the front end of a one-and-one doesn’t help either.

Harris drains a tough long two, and then hits a long, open three coming off of a screen. However he misses the heat check the next time down. Johnson commits a useless foul, and that’s his fourth.

9:13 2nd Half: La Salle 60, Duquesne 65

Just when one team looks to take over, the other keeps it close. Duquesne went on a 7-0 run to take a four-point lead, but Green takes it to the hoop for an and-1 layup.

Reggie Jackson scores twice on a nice move, and Achara thwarts Jerrell Williams’ move inside.

10:50 2nd Half: La Salle 57, Duquesne 59

Mekongo Mbala and Reggie Jackson quickly trade threes, as the Explorers lead by one.

Diaz fouls Reggie Jackson, and yet again the Dukes go to the line for three shots. The freebies tie it at 57, and a La Salle turnover takes the lead. The refs are really calling a lot of touch fouls, and the crowd for both sides is getting aggravated.

I don’t know if they’re missing all of their guys, but the Duquesne cheerleaders have slipped a good three times this game. No one’s gotten hurt, but I’m getting worried, to be honest.

12:50 2nd Half: La Salle 52, Duquesne 51

The Dukes start the half off hot - each of their three starting guards takes it to the basket for two. Harris connects with Johnson for an alley-oop, but he then commits a foul on a three-pointer to give the lead back to Duquesne.

Barrett gets yet another offensive board for the Explorers, though, and the North Philadelphia side takes back the lead. Then Sherman Diaz puts back the missed shot from the line to take back that three-point advantage. Just then, Clark comes back with an and-1 of his own.

Halftime: La Salle 39, Duquesne 36

Harris may have been knocked straight, as he hits the ground hard while taking a charge, but comes back to tie it the next possession with a long jumper. Mekongo Mbala gets an offensive rebound and puts in a five-footer for an and-1 to take the lead for the first time in a while.

Yves then gets a tough rebound, turns over the outlet pass, and then grabs another physical rebound before getting fouled., and hitting two from the line.

Reggie Jackson does a great job of sealing his defender and making the lefty layup.

Tucker bricks the front end of a one-and-one, Guillandeaux misses and the Explorers go into the half up by three.

6:30 1st Half, La Salle 32, Duquesne 34

The Duquesne guards are quick, and can get into the paint at will. They’re not hitting their free throw, though.

Williams, I believe, makes a perfect pass is transition to Ruben Guillandeaux, who spins to the basket for two. The Dukes are able to score inside to keep hold of the lead with a bank inside.

For some reason, Duquesne has no band, and it’s kind of awkwardly silent when their cheerleaders do a routine.

6:30 1st Half, La Salle 29, Duquesne 31

Terrell Williams gets blocked twice inside sans foul. La Salle is hitting about double the percentage from two as it has from beyond the arc. This is as scrappy and fast a game as I’ve seen in a while. La Salle and Duquesne get a ton of looks inside - many on offensive rebounds - but the interior defense has been good, with the finishing equally bad.

Green lightly dunks one home on a break, I’d guess the Explorers’ fifth slam of the night. Jerrell Williams followsa shot to tie it up, but the Dukes nail two open threes to open up a six-point lead.

Sherman Diaz, off the bench, feeds Mekongo Mbala for two and then forces an errant three from Reggie Jackson. After hitting a jumper, Jerrell Williams gets tripped up and falls hard. He grimaces, but seems to be fine now.

11:41 1st Half, La Salle 20, Duquesne 23

Aaron Jackson’s crossover is too quick for the Explorer defenders, as he turns a drive into a nasty reverse layup. But Williams hits a long two to take the lead right back.

Barrett misses two free throws, hits a three and then turns it over on the third trip down. Meanwhile, Achara steps out and hits a three to break the tie. With 43 total points in 7:30, this game is going to be real high-scoring. La Salle plays fast, and the Dukes average 75.6 possessions per 40 minutes.

17:14 1st Half, La Salle 15, Duquesne 14

Duquesne may hit a mere 31 percent from three, but they have hit two big ones early - one contested, one not.

Green comes right back with a beautiful alley-oop to Johnson, though, and Mekongo Mbala comes back with another transition dunk.

17:14 1st Half, La Salle 10, Duquesne 8
The Explorers have come out on fire. Green sealed his man for a lob inside, and Darnell Harris and

Holy sh… Tucker just put Williams on a poster with a monster dunk, Jordan style, spreading his legs. And he’s no forward — the senior is only 6-1.

Johnson gets Duquesne back with an and-1 dunk of his own.

___________
Starters:

La Salle:
G Darnell Harris
G Rodney Green
F Paul Johnson
F Yves Mekongo Mbala
F Jerrell Williams

Duquesne:
G Reggie Jackson
G Aaron Jackson
G Gary Tucker
F Bill Clark
C Shawn James

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Three of the four Philly teams’ Tournament lives are in the balance this week here in Atlantic City at Boardwalk Hall. La Salle faces Duquesne, and Saint Joseph’s goes up against Fordham today, and Temple, which earned the 2-seed and a bye, faces the La Salle-Duquesne winner tomorrow.

FINAL: St. Joe’s 80, Fordham 62

The Hawk will live another day. St. Joe’s gives its starters a much-deserved break for the final 10 minutes. Even C.J. Brown, 8 minutes to his name this season, gets in the game for a minute.

Outside of the opening 10 minutes, this game was never close. Fordham didn’t hit enough threes, and St. Joe’s was left too open on the outside, and penetrated with too much ease.

1:11 2nd Half: St. Joe’s 78, Fordham 62

Hilliard throws it down as zeros hit on the shot clock. It probably shouldn’t have counted, but I’m not sure anyone cares at this point. After a three, Fordham puts on a press, but even the Hawks’ 7th-through-11th men can easily break it.

Haha, Green takes a steal and throws down a ridiculous 180 dunk, but hangs on the rim so much that he draws a technical. Rivera misses both from the line though, so it doesn’t matter. I really credit Martelli for leaving the scrubs in, but they have barely held on. Fordham is only down 16, and they’ve missed a bunch of threes.

3:49 2nd Half: St. Joe’s 74, Fordham 51

After Hilliard throws a layup out of bounds, Butler jacks up an airball, and Calathes takes it the other way for an and-1.

Edwin Lashley is now in at guard for the Hawks, I’ve never seen him play before. Fordham had the checking line in, but the starting lineup comes right back in for the shift.

It doesn’t make any difference, though, as Nivins hits a nasty turnaround over Dunston with the shot clock winding down. He gets an ovation as he gets subbed out for Arydas Lidzius. D.J. Rivera comes in for Govens, and there are no starters in the game as of now.

The Fordham Ram is ridiculous, it just stretched and fell over, thudding on the ground, clearly on purpose. That’s all the entertainment Fordham fans will get today.

7:52 2nd Half: St. Joe’s 68, Fordham 43

The Hawks have kept everyone in the top-6 rotation in for a while, but Idris Hilliard gets into the game finally. I’m sure Phil Martelli would love to keep up this 23-point lead to rest some guys for tomorrow.

Nivins takes an offensive rebound for an and-1, and then ups the lead to 25 with another hoop and harm two possessions later. If Nivins has a bad half, he usually follows it up with a productive second.

15:00 2nd Half: St. Joe’s 58, Fordham 32

This isn’t even fair. Calathes is left open for a three to open up a 25-point lead. Meanwhile, Fordham is just getting nothing to fall.

Anderson gets an offensive board, but Ferguson throws the ball to mid-court, where Govens picks it up and hits Calathes with a behind-the-back pass for a layin. Govens hits Nivins the next possession on a no-look dish for Nivins’ first points.

Dunston is tired of this, and throws down an and-1 dunk over Ferguson. The teams trade threes, but that sure isn’t going to do it. If Fordham shut out the Hawks the rest of the game, it would still need to score about 1.6 points per minute.

Halftime Stats: The Hawks are shooting no better than they did last time against Fordham. Well, 64 percent is still fairly respectable. Other than Nivins, who is somehow 0-for-4, they have hit 16-of-24 from the floor.

Halftime: St. Joe’s 44, Fordham 25

Carr simply plucks Brenton Butler, and goes in for the open layup. The Hawks are on a 24-5 run in the last 10 minutes or so. I don’t have the stats in front of me, but I’d be surprised if the Rams have more than five field goals.

With the shot clock winding down, Williamson hurls the ball at the basket, and it nearly goes in off the bank, but bounces to Calathes, who gets fouled.

The lanky forward finishes the half out on a good note, scoring with only five seconds to go. This is a severe beating Fordham is taking.

3:34 1st Half, St. Joe’s 38, Fordham 19

Fordham’s defense is really starting to fail. Calathes just teases Binns with the step-back jumper, and the Rams inconceivably leave Ferguson wide open for three. He’s 2-of-3 today, and 42.2 percent on the season. Stout then leaves Williamson wide open for a three from the corner, and it goes down.

Wow, with the shot clock winding down, Carr hesitantly goes up for a three from the top of the key, and drains it over Stout. If the Hawks keep shooting the way they are and the Rams keep missing free throws, this is going to get out of hand quickly.

Calathes drives for a layup, Carr is wet on a three coming off of a screen and Dereck Whittenburg needs a timeout.

7:56 1st Half, St. Joe’s 22, Fordham 16

Nivins pins Binns’ shot on the backboard, and then rejects him again. The big man can’t convert on the other end, though, despite getting two cracks at it. After a foul each by Calathes and Nivins, Stout hits one from the line.

Finally, someone hits a three. Ferguson connects from the top of the key, and Williamson shrewdly waits for Anderson to catch up to him on the fastbreak, turning it into another three-point play.

There really aren’t too many Hawks fans here, although except for the last minute, there hasn’t been anything exciting to cheer about yet.

11:29 1st Half, St. Joe’s 14, Fordham 11

Fordham takes an early advantage, but the Hawks come back with a few easy layups by Nivins, Carr and Calathes to take the lead.

Fordham cuts the lead to one now on a pair of free throws, but Calathes hits a nice elbow jumper over Greene to bump it up to three. Both teams are in a man defense. Green isn’t a bad defende, but Calathes has four early points on him.

Dunston powers his way through for a deuce, but Carr answers with a sweet bank. Garrett Williamson, now in the game for Govens, hits Ferguson, who gets fouled.

_______
St. Joe’s plays in the first game of the day, tipping off at, I’ll estimate 2:43 p.m. The Hawks (RPI=55) need to beat Fordham (RPI=161) and Richmond (RPI=115) to even have a shot of making the NCAA Tournament. They might need to reach the championship to do it, and barring a Dayton win, the Hawks must survive a rubber match with No. 8 Xavier.

There are more Fordham fans than there were SLU faithful, but still there aren’t many. Just like last year, the first round draws very few fans. There was actually a very loud Billikens fan right behind me, but apparently he’s switched to support Fordham. The two bands now play against each other, as Fordham was doing something, and the St. Joe’s band plays “When the Hawk comes marching in.”

Dunston is Fordham’s player to watch, he’s averaging a double-double.

Starters:

St. Joe’s:
G Tasheed Carr
G Darrin Govens
F Pat Calathes
F Rob Ferguson
C Ahmad Nivins

Fordham:
G Marcus Stout
G Kevin Anderson
F Michael Binns
F Sebastian Greene
C Bryant Dunston

_________

Dayton 63, Saint Louis 62, OT

In today’s first game, Dayton led pretty much all the way through. Saint Louis, which had been laying bricks all day, finally hit two threes to cut the lead to six and then stole an inbounds pass, to cut the lead to four with under three to go. Tommie Liddell then made a fantastic move on the baseline to make it 55-52 with 1:08 left, and they nearly got it back with a five-second call on the inbounds pass.

Then everything went crazy. An errant buzzer went off as Liddell was going up for a three at the top of the key, so the defense essentially stopped, while the three tickled the nylon. Dayton’s coach went berserk, but it won’t matter, it’s tied at 55.

After a charge, SLU gets one chance to win it. But London Warren plucks Saint Louis’ Kevin Lisch, but he misses the bank for the win. The ball is slapped out, and Andres Sandoval’s NBA three for the win clanks off the rim, and it heads to overtime.

In the extra session, each team trades threes, until yet another inbounds pass went awry for Dayton, giving SLU the ball down one with 1:35 to go. Danny Brown then made a fantastic and-1 teardrop, but Dayton takes the one-point lead right back.

Warren plays fantastic defense on Lisch, wasting the clock down to 6 seconds before he can give it up for a desperation three, and Dayton barely hangs on for the 63-62 win. The Flyers (RPI=33) are an impressive 21-9, and may be in the tournament already, though a win over No. 8 Xavier would really help.

Wednesday at Boardwalk Hall:
No. 8 Dayton vs. No. 9 Saint Louis, 12 p.m.
No. 5 Saint Joseph’s vs. No. 12 Fordham, 2:30 p.m.
No. 7 La Salle vs. No. 10 Duquesne, 6:30 p.m.
No. 6 Charlotte vs. No. 11 Rhode Island, 9 p.m.

Thursday:
No. 1 Xavier vs. Dayton/Saint Louis, 12 p.m.
No. 4 Richmond vs. St. Joe’s/Fordham, 2:30 p.m.
No. 2 Temple vs. La Salle/Duquesne, 6:30 p.m.
No. 3 Massachusetts vs. Charlotte/URI, 9 p.m.

FINAL: Penn 60, Princeton 47

Well, it’s not an Ivy League title, but at least the Quakers can say they stayed above .500 in the league this year. The game went pretty much as expected; Princeton played tough, but just didn’t have the offensive firepower to keep up with Penn.

The Quakers sealed the deal with late free throw shooting, and Grandieri got a standing ovation from the Penn crowd when Miller took him out with under a minute to go.

2nd Half, 1:31: Penn 54, Princeton 45

Bernardini and Eggleston fought for the same board, and the ball fell to Briggs, who scored inside. Princeton is in foul mode; Bernardini missed the front end of a one-and-one.

2nd Half, 3:42: Penn 54, Princeton 43

Gaines just showed his natural ability to get to the basket with a nice drive and easy layup. Votel is playing much better D on Finley than Schreiber was, though Finley just got to the line and made one of two.

2nd Half, 5:13: Penn 52, Princeton 42

Now that’s more like it for the Quaker offense. First Egee had a nice drive and dish to Eggleston for an easy one, then Bernardini got open off a screen and hit another three, this one from the corner, forcing a Johnson timeout.

2nd Half, 7:13: Penn 47, Princeton 42

Briggs got another layup on a cut to the basket, the Kevin Steuerer hit a three from the corner to cut the Penn lead to two. Bernardini answered with three of his own, off a pass out of a double team from Eggleston.

2nd Half, 9:30: Penn 44, Princeton 37

Schreiber recently re-entered the game and it looks like he is on his way out already after missing a short jumper and getting scored on easily by Finley. Votel has checked back in, presumably for Schreiber. After Finley’s basket, Eggleston got the roll on a putback to keep Penn’s lead at 7.

2nd Half, 11:48: Penn 40, Princeton 35

Jason Briggs had two nice drives and scores, the second coming after Bernardini airballed a three. Egee continued his smooth stroke, though, and hit a three for the Quakers from the left wing. The tides have turned with fouls; Princeton is already in the penalty.

2nd Half, 15:25: Penn 35, Princeton 31

Bernardini started where he left off in the first half: struggling. He turned it over a couple times and was called for a tripping foul after getting tangled up with Savage. He finally got an open jumper though, moments ago, and hit it from the free throw line. For Princeton, Finley scored easily inside, but then Penn did an effective job doubling him a few possessions later.

1st Half Stats:

Leading Scorers: Penn - Grandieri (10), Princeton - Savage (8)

FGs: Penn - 13-29 (44.8%), Princeton - 7-17 (41.2%)

Really? They only took 17 shots? Gotta love the Princeton offense.

Rebounds: Penn - 16 (4 offensive), Princeton - 15 (3 offensive)

Assists/Turnovers: Penn - 4/5, Princeton - 4/8

3-Pt - Penn - 0-3, Princeton - 1-4,

Now that I think about it, the Tigers did do a great job of not giving Penn, and especially Bernardini, open looks from three.

They’re in the midst of a halftime ceremony honoring all of the Princeton Ivy League champions and Players of the Year for the year so far. At least they have something to celebrate in this arena.

Halftime: Penn 29, Princeton 25

Penn piled up the fouls that half, so much so that the Penn crowd let out a sarcastic cheer when a foul was finally called on the Tigers. With some of the Quakers already in foul trouble, it will be interesting to see how Miller shuffles the lineup. He has already made some interesting moves, putting in Brenna Votel, and yes, Joe Gill.

Votel ended the half on a high note for the Quakers, hitting a long jumper when Princeton refused to guard him outside.

1st Half, 3:35: Princeton 22, Penn 21

Penn has looked hapless on offense in the past four minutes. They finally got an easy look at the basket but Bernardini missed a wide open layup, which led to a Koncz three on the other end, giving Princeton its first lead. More bad news for Penn: both Schreiber and Egee have picked up three fouls already.

1st Half, 7:30: Penn 19, Princeton 14

Egee continues to show how improved his jump shot is; he just hit a 15-footer to extend Penn’s lead. Savage hit a mid-range J of his own earlier to keep it relatively close. Uncharacteristic play for Grandieri right before the timeout: with Penn on a two-on-one fastbreak, he tried a behind the back pass to Gaines. It was nearly stolen but Gaines recovered it and was fouled.

1st Half, 9:49: Penn 17, Princeton 10

Penn is starting to emerge as the better team. Kevin Egee just extended Penn’s lead with a nice up and under on Koncz inside. That’s right, he posted up the 6-7 Koncz and scored on him easily.

1st Half, 11:51: Penn 14, Princeton 10

Eggleston just scored on consecutive possessions for Penn. The second came on a forceful slam after a nice pass inside by Schreiber. Jack will be at the line to try to complete the three-point play after the timeout.

Gotta mention this: there is basically no one here and the average age of the people here is probably 75. Who said the rivalry hasn’t lost its luster?

1st Half, 14:46: Penn 8, Princeton 6

Grandieri has been Penn’s best weapon so far, getting two baskets, one after picking up a loose ball (it seems like he is always around the ball). Zach Finley came off the bench and got two baskets inside for the Tigers, but he just picked up on offensive foul,

Starting Lineups: Like Glen Miller Saturday night, Sydney Johnson is giving all of his seniors the start.

Penn:

G Harrison Gaines

G Brian Grandieri

G Tyler Bernardini

F Jack Eggleston

C Andreas Schreiber

Princeton:

G Matt Sargeant

G Kevin Steuerer

G Zach Woolridge

F Kyle Koncz

F Noah Savage

Rob Gross on hand at Jadwin Gym for the Ivy League season finale. It’s going to be an anti-climactic finish tonight no matter what happens, with Cornell having put the wraps on an undefeated season this past weekend, but hopefully these two rivals can give us a good show to close out the year.

Refresh this page all night for live updates of Penn vs. Princeton.

FINAL: Penn 69, Columbia 67

It was clear that Miller wanted Bernardini to have the last shot, but his first attempt came up way short; it may have been tipped. But a Penn player dove for the rebound and it bounced back to Bernardini, who promptly hit a short floater to give Penn the victory.

2nd Half, 13.0: Penn 67, Columbia 67

Scott got to the basket and was fouled by Bernardini, but he only made one of two. Penn now has a chance for the last shot; we’ll see what Miller draws up.

2nd Half, 26.4: Penn 67, Columbia 66

Typical Brian Grandieri play as the seconds wind down. After Niko Scott scored on a nice drive to the hoop, Grandieri grabbed the offensive board from a Bernardini miss and put it back in, thanks to a friendly roll. Columbia now has the ball with the chance to take the lead.

2nd Half, 1:20: Penn 64, Columbia 64

Schreiber continued his strong play down the stretch with a nice move inside to score on Nwachukwu. Baumann hit two free throws to tie it and Miller just called a timeout to set up a play for the Quakers.

2nd Half, 2:36: Penn 62, Columbia 62

Schreiber came up big, hitting four consecutive free throws. The second pair came after a needless over-the-back foul on Nwachukwu that put Penn in the double bonus.

2nd Half, 3:36: Columbia 60, Penn 58

Four consecutive points forced Jones into a timeout. Bernardini hit two FTs then Grandieri got inside and hit one of patented floaters off the backboard. Should be a good one down the stretch.
2nd Half, 5:02: Columbia 60, Penn 54

Gaines made a nice floater but then missed a pretty easy layup on Penn’s next possession. Nwachukwu continues to give Penn headaches inside. First he scored on a nice post move on Eggleston, then he grabbed an offensive board and got the putback.

2nd Half, 7:47: Columbia 56, Penn 50

Not much has changed since the last timeout. Justin Reilly scored after getting an offensive rebound for Penn and Montgomery scored on a nice back door play for Columbia. Columbia has kept Bernardini extremely quiet in this half, which had to be one of its focal points for the game.

2nd Half, 10:24: Columbia 52, Penn 46

It’s entering danger time for the Quakers. Columbia looks poised to take control of this game.

2nd Half, 13:04: Columbia 50, Penn 44

Big sequence for Columbia: first Baumann fought hard for two offensive boards and scored, despite what looked like multiple fouls on him. That play got Jones really pumped up. On the next play, Columbia turned a bad pass from Grandieri into a Baumann fast break dunk, forcing a Miller timeout. More bad news for Penn, Schreiberpicked up his fourth foul moments ago.

2nd Half, 15:43: Columbia 44, Penn 39

Penn is getting hurt by the long ball so far. Baumann, Montgomery and Loscalzo have all hit triples for the Lions. Penn’s one highlight came on a nifty steal from Bernardini, which led to a wide open dunk.

Even the band and cheerleading seniors got honored at halftime..and wait even senior DP reporters! Be right back, I have to get my plaque.

Ok here are the halftime stats:

Leading Scorers: Penn - Egee (12), Columbia - Nwachukwu (15)

FGs: Penn - 10-28 (35.7%), Columbia - 11-27 (40.7%)

Rebounds: Penn - 15 (4 offensive), Columbia - 19 (6 offensive)

Assists/Turnovers: Penn - 6/10, Columbia - 6/11

Bench Points: Penn - 28, Columbia - 5

Halftime: Penn 33, Columbia 32

Really good game so far. Not even close to the excitement of last night, but it’s been pretty intriguing. Nwachukwu was a force inside for the entire half, but Penn did a good job of not letting him dominate the game. Penn ended the half with some momentum thanks to a scrappy play from Bernardini, leading to a Grandieri runaway layup.

1st Half, 48.9: Penn 31, Columbia 31

Conor Turley is getting some serious playing time, not sure why. Perhaps Miller figures they need all the fouls they can get guarding Columbia’s big men. Eggleston has been sitting on the bench for a while after picking up two early fouls.

Turley is making Miller look good, though. He’s been doing a pretty good job with his interior defense.

1st Half, 3:46: Columbia 25, Penn 23

Nwachukwu scored once again and it looked like Columbia was starting to pull away. But another three from Egee brought the Penn deficit to 2. This game is reminiscent of the first meeting between the two, except K.J. Matsui is not raining down three’s like he did in that game. The Quakers are keeping it close as a result, but they just don’t seem to match up well with Columbia.

1st Half, 6:16: Columbia 21, Penn 19

The Lions continue to pound the ball inside. Nwackukwu isn’t killing Penn, but he’s been Columbia’s best offensive option so far. For Penn, Kevin Egee kept the game close with two three-pointers, both from the left wing.

1st Half, 11:58: Columbia 11, Penn 8

Both offenses are still struggling. Penn’s only easy basket came on a runaway layup for Schreiber. Nwachukwu is too strong for Penn’s big men to guard; he scored on Reilly and-one inside. Columbia coach Joe Jones is upset with the way the game is being called though. Both Baumann and Nwchukwu have been called for offensive fouls.

1st Half, 15:52: Columbia 6, Penn 3

Ugly start for both sides, especially Penn. The Quakers missed their first five shots, including four ugly ones from Grandieri. Baumann and Loscalzo hit three’s for Columbia and right after Harrison Gaines and Tyler Bernardini replaced Kach and Gill, Gaines got Penn on the board with a triple.

Ok enough of that, let’s get to the game.

Starting Lineups:

Penn - Another classy move, this one by Miller, giving Kach and Gill the start.

G Joe Gill

G Mike Kach

G Brian Grandieri

F Jack Eggleston

C Andreas Schreiber

Columbia -

G Niko Scott

G Mack Montgomery

G Brett Loscalzo

F John Baumann

C Ben Nwachukwu

Pre-Game Ceremony: Really nice ceremony for Grandieri, Gill, and Mike Kach. Great ovation for everyone, especially Grandieri. Classy move by Columbia as all of the Lions stood and applauded Penn’s Class of ‘08. It’s too bad this place is nearly empty for their last game here.

Sports editors…I mean Rob Gross here at the Palestra for Penn’s final home game of the season. Refresh the page throughout the game for live updates on Senior Night.

It’s hard to believe this will be Brian Grandieri’s last game at the Palestra. Hopefully his teammates can play as well as they did last night and give him one last victory on this floor. Let’s also hope the game is not too close so fellow senior Joe Gill can see some PT - then again he was on the floor in crunch time last year when Glen Miller sent out his best three-point shooting team,
Sidenote, Tim Begley is in the house for Senior Night and it looks like he might be thinking about changing his sport of choice. He spent the last few minutes in conversation with women’s soccer coach Darren Ambrose.

FINAL: Cornell 94, Penn 92

WHAT A FINISH. Penn brought it back to one with 3 seconds left after a Bernardini three. Penn promptly fouled sending Wittman to the line with 2.7 on the clock. He made one of two and Penn was left to hope for a halfcourt heave to get a shot off.

Reilly sent it downcourt and Bernardini grabbed it. He went up for a three and appeared to get fouled but no call was made. Glen Miller ran all the way out to center court and remained there for about a minute protesting the call. It’s hard to make that call down the stretch, but it looked like there was enouch contact.

2nd Half, 9.8: Cornell 92, Penn 89

Thanks to three-pointers from Gaines and Bernardini, this one is not quite over yet. Penn will be missing Grandier for the final stretch though as he just fouled out. Dale is at the line shooting two.

2nd Half, 43.6: Cornell 89, Penn 79

They answered that question quickly as Gaines threw away the inbound pass leading to an easy Cornell basket. Bernardini then missed an off-balance three and Penn was forced to foul.

2nd Half, 1:08: Cornell 85, Penn 79

The press seems to be working. Cornell has turned it over twice already. We’ll see if Penn can capitalize off the latest one.

2nd Half, 1:27: Cornell 85, Penn 79

Tyler just provided an exclamation point with s thunderous slam off a nice feed from Dale. Penn is in full-court press mode now and need some steals to get back into it.

2nd Half, 2:34: Cornell 82, Penn 73

Barring a miracle, Penn’s upset bid is over. Ryan Wittman just provided the dagger with a three to give Cornell its biggest lead of the night.

2nd Half, 3:42: Cornell 75, Penn 71

Grandieri hit a big mid-range J to momentarily thwart Cornell’s momentum. He then committed a loose ball foul and with the Quakers now in the double bonus, Foote will be shooting two when the game resumes.

2nd Half, 4:19: Cornell 75, Penn 69

It’s starting to enter “Uh-Oh” time for the Red and Blue. Dale got inside once again for an easy layup then Bernardini was unable to fight through the screens as Gore hit an open three. Penn needs to respond soon or its upset bid will come up short.

2nd Half, 5:49: Cornell 70, Penn 69

You knew it wasn’t going to be easy for the Quakers to hold onto their lead. Dale just gave the Big Red their first lead in a while with an acrobatic move to the hoop.

2nd Half, 7:32: Penn 69, Cornell 66

Not much scoring in the last couple minutes but plenty of action. The players are really getting at it on the boards and diving for loose balls. Reilly was just called for a travel diving for a ball and Cam Lewis had a nice block after a crazy sequence where about six players were fighting for the rebound.

Both Eggleston and Schreiber re-entered the game and Schreiber prompty picked up his fifth on a charge call.

2nd Half, 10:02: Penn 69, Cornell 64

Cam Lewis just tore the roof off this place with a MONSTER slam. The arena was so loud that nobody even knew the ref had called a foul on the play. The basket gave Penn its biggest lead of 9 but Cornell has kept it close thanks to baskets from Alex Tyler and Foote. This one has been exciting throughout and it doesn’t look like that is going to change as we head down to the last ten minutes.

2nd Half, 13:54: Penn 63, Cornell 58

I just said Schreiber was starting to gain confidence; too bad he picked up his fourth foul right after the last timeout. A few possessions later, Eggleston picked up his fourth diving for a loose ball. Cam Lewis is going to have to step up big time if the Quakers want to hold on to this one. He just entered and got a nice block on Jason Battle. Then Grandieri got a putback layup, leading to a Steve Donahue timeout.

2nd Half, 15:47: Penn 56, Cornell 54

Andreas Schreiber is gaining confidence. He hit a three-point play on a short jumper then took a few steps back and knocked down a mid-range J. Penn looked like it was starting to gain momentum, but Louis Dale made two nice moves into the lane for layups, one going for a three-point play and Wittman hit a three from NBA range.

Halftime Stats:

Leading Scorers: Penn - Eggleston, Bernardini (11), Cornell - Gore (14)

FGs: Penn - 16-29 (55.2%), Cornell - 15-31 (48.4%)

Rebounds: Penn - 14 (4 offensive), Cornell - 15 (6 offensive)

Assists/Turnovers: Penn - 8/6, Cornell - 9/6

3-Pts: Penn - 4-9, Cornell 6-17

Halftime: Penn 44, Cornell 44

Looks like 14-0 isn’t going to come as easily as many thought coming into the weekend. Wittman just tied the game going into the half, but the Quakers have to feel good about the way they are playing. Not only are they executing on offense, they are playing inspired ball, fighting for rebounds and diving for loose balls.

It seems like the crowd knows as well that perfection is at stake; the arena has been raucous considering it isn’t even close to full.

1st Half, 44.2: Penn 44, Cornell 42

As we head down the stretch in this half, things have gotten even more entertaining. Boths teams are raining three’s and making it look easy on offense. The highlight of the game so far, though, came on the defensive end. Jack Eggleston completely stuffed the seven-foot Jeff Foote, drawing quite a response from the home crowd.

1st Half, 3:59: Cornell 35, Penn 35

This game has been fin to watch so far. Both teams are executing on offense and getting oepn looks. Ryan Wittman, who has been quiet hit a wide open three from the wing, but Bernardini immediately responded with a three of his own. Looks like the Quakers are enjoying the role of spoiler so far.

1st Half, 7:54: Cornell 32, Penn 26

Biggest sequence of the early going: The ball was on the floor for a good ten seconds as players from both sides scrummed to recover it. Cornell eventually did, which led to another four-point play from Gore. This is looking a lot like the first two meetings between these two. Penn is playing well and hanging in there so far, but Cornell looks like they have too much offensive firepower.

1st Half, 11:56, Penn 19, Cornell 19

Grandieri gave his team the lead again with a three coming out of the last timeout, but seconds later Gore banged another one from deep. Big men Justin Reilly and Jeff Foote each scored on each other to keep it at a tie.

Sidenote, the crowd is actually pretty decent, considering most students aren’t on campus. The most full sections of the arena are the Cornell ones, though.

1st Half, 13:08: Penn 14, Cornell 14

Penn got off to a great start, gaining an early 7-point lead. But Adam Gore went on a personal 7-0 run, hitting two three’s, one going for a four-point play after a needless foul from Harrison Gaines.

1st Half, 15:34: Penn 11, Cornell 5

Brian Grandieri has come out agressive scoring three early baskets. A Tyler Bernardini three-point play gave Penn the early edge going into the first media timeout.

Rob Gross here at the Palestra to bring all of you Spring Breakers who are worried about what is going on here in West Philly the game updates. Stay tuned all night for live updates of the Quakers’ bid to knock off Cornell from the ranks of the Ivy unbeaten.

FINAL: HARVARD 89, PENN 79

Penn played a nice final ten minutes, but in case you haven’t heard there are 40 minutes in a college basketball game. Looks like Cornell has locked up the league with a win over Brown tonight.

2nd Half, 55.3: Harvard 83, Penn 72

Now this one is over, the last minute is a formality. Glen Miller has called his last timeout and Penn is in full-court press/foul mode. We want a Cem Dinc appearance!

2nd Half, 2:39: Harvard 76, Penn 66

A Bernardini 3 made it a single-digit game, but Kyle Fitzgerald stopped the Penn momentum with a huge basket inside, after Harvard worked the shot clock all the way down.

2nd Half, 4:04: Harvard 74, Penn 63

WAIT! It’s not over just yet.

The Quakers have put together a very nice offensive stretch and a Schreiber put-back three-point play made it an 11-point game. Dan McGeary just turned it over with a carry, forcing a Tommy Amaker timeout.

2nd Half, 7:44: Harvard 67, Penn 48

The margin hasn’t changed much, but at least Penn is starting to look respectable on offense. It’s going to be much too little, much too late though.

2nd Half, 10:50: Harvard 63, Penn 44

Every time Penn has shown signs of life Harvard has answered with some baskets. Bernardini finally got back on the board with some FTs, but he then missed short on a 3, which led to a Crimson fast-break score.

2nd Half, 13:44, Harvard 57, Penn 40

Much of the same. Penn is forcing it on offense. The effort is there, but when they have put together some good possessions, it seems Harvard is getting all the breaks and bounces.

Earlier, I forgot to mention that Harris went up for a monster throw down that would have torn off the glass roof here, but a Quaker got in his way and he went crashing to the floor. I don’t know how there was no foul on the play.

By the way, Bernardini only played six minutes in the first half due to 2 fouls. He hasn’t scored since his game-opening 3. Could be a major reason Penn looks so bad on offense.

2nd Half, 15:55, Harvard 52, Penn 33

The teams started where they left off in the first half. Lin has already gotten inside twice for easy layups and Penn continues to struggle from the floor. Unger is killing the Penn D; he just hit another 3.

1st Half Stats:

Leading Scorers: Penn - Grandieri (12), Harvard - Unger (16), Harris (14)

FG%: Penn - 12-36 (33.3%), Harvard - 16-27 (59.3%)

Points in the Paint: Penn - 12, Harvard - 24

FT-FTA: Penn - 1-2, Harvard - 10-11

Rebounds: Penn - 14 (9 offensive), Harvard - 22 (6 offensive)

Assists/Turnovers: Penn - 5/4, Harvard - 9/6

Halftime: Harvard 45, Penn 28

Yeah you read that right. Penn is down 17 at the half against a 2-and-7 league team.

Did they have some bad clam chowder on the way here from Hanover??? After putting up 88 last night, the Red and Blue look like they’re going to give up that much or more tonight. The offense is struggling, but the Quakers’ interior defenders don’t look like they could guard me right now (then again, I am a beast on the low block).

1st Half, 2:58: Harvard 41, Penn 25

Things are getting uglier for the Quakes on both sides of the court. Reilly missed two open 3’s and besides that, they have really struggled to get good looks. They finally put in a nice defensive possession, but Pusar gobbled the rebound and put it in for a new biggest lead.

1st Half, 6:17: Harvard 34, Penn 23

Harvard looks like a well-oiled machine on offense so far. I can’t count the amount of layups they’ve had. Unger, though, just gave the Crimson a double-digit lead by stepping outside for a 3.

1st Half, 7:46: Harvard 29, Penn 22

Penn is doing a better job stopping penetration than they did in the first matchup between these two, but the Crimson are finding other ways to score inside. They extended their lead thanks to and-one buckets by Unger and Harris. Harvard is also winning the free throw battle so far as the Quakers hit the penalty before the 10-minute mark.

1st Half, 11:57: Harvard 14, Penn 12

The Crimson have been working the pick and roll well, the latest time coming when Harris got a mismatch inside and scored on Egee. Justin Reilly, Harrison Gaines and Brenna Votel have all made early appearances for Penn.

1^st Half, 13:51: Harvard 12, Penn 9

Penn started it off with a Bernardini three, which is a great sign for the team. Harvard has taken over since, the best highlight coming on a Harris three-point play.

Penn Starters: Egee, Bernardini, Grandieri, Eggleston, Schreiber

Harvard Starters: G Jeremy Lin, G Drew Housman, G Andrew Pusar, F Evan Harris, F Brad Unger

Early Cofield Update: Remy is in street clothes.

Early Band Update: The Penn Band played “I’m a Barbie Girl” and the Harvard band played “Boom Boom Boom Boom, I want you in my room.”

Penn Band: 0, Harvard Band: 0

Hey it’s Rob Gross here in Cambridge (I think it’s Cambridge, it could be Boston or Allston or Brighton all of them at the same time). Anyway I’m hereto bring you live updates of tonights Penn-Harvard game. Refresh this page for updates throughout the night.

WOW. Harris misses the front end of the 1-and-1, but on a drive left, Carr loses the ball and the Explorers recover and call timeout with 1.4 to go.

La Salle throws a risky pass the length of the court, and Green gets fouled with a second to go. He misses the first.

A whistle goes off as Green is about to let the second free throw go. He stops mid-shot, and gets called for a violation. He probably would have missed on purpose, making a last-second three almost impossible.

So St. Joe’s inbounds with one second to go. They throw it long, and the pass for Calathes under the basket is knocked by La Salle to Carr, but he can’t get the shot off in time, and the game is over. I can finally stop holding my breath.

That was, no joke, the most entertaining basketball game I’ve seen this year.

0:09.3 2nd Half: La Salle 90, St. Joe’s 89

Carr hits a quick layup, a real tough one at that, and the Hawks are down one. Harris gets the ball and is fouled.

0:17.6 2nd Half: La Salle 90, St. Joe’s 87

An Explorer misses but Green throws down a monstrous put-back dunk. Williamson hit one from the line, and the Explorers lead by one.

With the shot clock winding down at under 20 seconds left, Barrett hits a tough layup while getting double-teamed. This place is LOUD.

1:22 2nd Half: La Salle 86, St. Joe’s 85

Green hits two from the line and Carr turns it over. Passing around the traps well, the Explorers can’t get off a three like usual, but Mekongo Mbala gets to the line with 1:39 left. He hits the second only to go up 3.

Govens makes a nice entry pass to Nivins, and the big man nails a crucial and-1.

2:39 2nd Half: La Salle 83, St. Joe’s 83

Williams is back in with four fouls, but he gets trapped, and Harris misses the three at the end of the shot clock.

Carr goes streaking across the lane, and hits with zeros on the shot clock. But Johnson answers with his ugly, ugly shot from three. Govens finally misses, and Williams gets fouled on the other end.

Calathes misses, and Green hits a bank to tie it at 81. The La Salle crowd goes nuts, and then erupts when Carr misses, and Barrett hits a reverse layup to take the lead. Calathes answers, though, with a runner with 1 on the shot clock.

Green somehow blocks Calathes, and then gets fouled on a transition layup that he can’t convert. He punches the backboard protector a bunch in frustration.

7:56 2nd Half: St. Joe’s 79, La Salle 75

It’s hard to imagine that a guy who already has nearly 30 points won’t be the player of the game, but Harris hits what I believe is his fifth three of the game. Govens hits a layup, and he’s got 26 points, a third candidate for game MVP.

Garrett Williamson finally makes his presence felt, swatting a Harris three. Calathes goes for a rebound but misses, and angrily sways the ball into the crowd, but he somehow avoids a tech.

The Hawk fans roll out another good sign: “Keep Exploring the bottom of the A-10.” Now “Smiley” the Hatfield pig mascot is shooting hot dogs into the Hawks student section. One goes to the Explorer faithful, and to their delight, the fan throws it back onto the court. The last hot dog of about 20 explodes on its way out of the gun.

The Explorers fans put up a banner: “St. Joe’s has class… Rivera usually cuts it.” referring to the guard who “focused on academics” last semester.

11:39 2nd Half: St. Joe’s 74, La Salle 69

Calathes hits, but so does Guillandeaux on another floater.

Harris, who hit three threes in the first half, is unconscious on this deep one over Ferguson. But once again, Govens returns with a jumper and then a three.

The action never stops. Harris makes Carr fall on the baseline, but misses the three. Then Calathes puts the ball around his back and hits Govens for yet another three.

14:38 2nd Half: St. Joe’s 62, La Salle 63

Carr hits a three to start off the half, but Green turns a steal into two points. Govens converts a nice layup, and now Nivins takes a charge, giving Williams his fourth foul.

Nivins now gets whistled for a charge, and Martelli slams his hand against the scorer’s table. Nice ball-movement gets Gullandeaux an open three, and he connects.

Gullandeaux is taking over now - he hits a jumper in the lane, and then nails a trey in transition. Now Mekongo hits an open three, but it’s answered by Govens. Harris takes back the lead, and Govens gets it right back. Now Barrett gets fouled, and the shot is goal-tended, and the Explorer’s grab back the lead. This has been maybe most electrifying game I’ve seen all year.

Halftime: St. Joe’s 50, La Salle 46

While this section of my post just got deleted, the half ends with the Hawks on top by four. This was an insane first half, not necessarily with bad defense, but the shooting on both sides has been impeccable. St. Joe’s is hitting 67 percent from the field, while La Salle is 47 percent, though 10-for-17 from three.

3:27 1st Half: St. Joe’s 43, La Salle 40

Gullandeaux nails a three off of a nifty pass from Williams, and La Salle takes the lead for the first time.

Calathes comes right back with an and-1 layup (that should have been called on the ground). Giannini disagrees, but spends more time calming down Williams. Calathes then scores again on a sweet baseline jumper from 17 feet.

Harris is nothing but net on a three from NBA range. He is money tonight.

I must give the La Salle fans credit, they are real loud tonight, probably better than the Villanova coningent at the Holy War.

6:05 1st Half: St. Joe’s 34, La Salle 34

Calathes drains a three, but once again it’s answered by the big man, Mekongo Mbala.

Following a Nivins dunk, Mekongo Mbala drains yet another trey, and La Salle has tied it up at 34.

8:21 1st Half: St. Joe’s 29, La Salle 25

Johnson hits a transition layup, and the Explorers are within six, and the teams then trade threes.

Off of a tough offensive rebound, Williams slices through for a layup, and the game is real close now.

Huh, the St. Joe’s staff has a guy walking around the Palestra selling cotton candy.

11:51 1st Half: St. Joe’s 24, La Salle 16

Harris drains a three over Carr, he’s he’s just nasty, has eight points already.

Nivins just made a fantastic and-1, double-teamed in the post but still getting it up.

Wow, Williams cocks it back for a monster dunk, but gets rejected by Nivins, and the crowd goes crazy.

The Hawks fans roll out a sign: “St. Joe’s salutes La Salle fans (Both of them).” A Hawks fan just won a semester of free Qdoba burritos just by hitting a couple of layups and elbow shots. That’s just sad. The Penn Qdoba makes you hit a layup, free throw, three and half-court shot.

15:32 1st Half: St. Joe’s 15, La Salle 10

Both teams are raining threes, as Harris gets the Explorers on the board, Mekongo Mbala hits another, but Calathes nails one from the top of the key to extend the St. Joe’s lead.

Johnson misses a three, but makes a pretty feed (while getting trapped) to Harris, who makes an even prettier finish. But Govens comes back with a ridiculous reverse layup, throwing it off the backboard with great english.

18:44 1st Half: St. Joe’s 6, La Salle 0

On the first possession, Nivins bullys Williams for an easy dunk and then a layup, as Mekongo Mbala completes his team’s second-straight turnover. Calathes adds a dunk and Dr. John Giannini calls timeout.

The crowd is about 75 percent full, and the majority are Hawks fans. The La Salle fans let out a pretty loud chant of “Let’s go ’splorers!”, but it’s drowned out eventually by the “Hawks Are Marching In”

We just had a moment of silence for the Northern Illinois shootings, though that moment lasted no more than two or three seconds.

As the La Salle band plays, the St. Joe’s students try to belt the chant of “Phil Martelli!” over it. We’re just about ready to go at the Palestra, the Hawks wearing the home white, La Salle in blue.

________

With only three games left in the Big 5, nothing is decided. Well, except for that Penn (0-4) won’t win.

Villanova (3-1), Temple (1-1), La Salle (1-1) and Saint Joseph’s (2-0) all have a shot at winning at least a share of the Big 5 title, though the Hawks are the only team that can win the title outright.

La Salle hasn’t been bad lately, going 4-5 in the Atlantic 10, and will likely make the conference tournament, unlike last season. Out of 14 teams, 12 make it to Atlantic City on March 12, and the Explorers sit in 11th place, two games ahead of 13th-place George Washington (3-8).

The Hawks are on the opposite side of the spectrum. Despite recent losses at Xavier and Duquesne, they sit alone in second place at 7-3, though Rhode Island, Richmond and Temple are all one game behind them, chasing those valuable four tourney byes.

An hour before the game, St. Joe’s fans are already here. They aren’t making much noise, but that’s stilll pretty impressive. The Explorers’ student faithful start showing up about 45 minutes early. The Hawks fans do one of my favorite chants “When the Hawks come marching in” replacing “Saints” with their team when their team takes the floor a half-hour before tip-off.

Starters:

St. Joe’s:
G Darrin Govens
G Tasheed Carr
F Pat Calathes
F Rob Ferguson
C Ahmad Nivins

La Salle:
G Darnell Harris
G Rodney Green
F Paul Johnson
F Jerrell Williams
F Yves Mekongo Mbala

Final, 78-65 Penn
Just as it looked like Penn might be in for a repeat of last night, the Quakers snapped out of their funk and went on a 28-3 run, playing the most inspired stretch of basketball they’ve played all season. The key to the game was Penn’s great inside play, which started to free up open looks from the perimeter later on in the game. Glen Miller has to be very pleased with this win against a somewhat talented Yale team. On the whole, a tremendous team effort for the Quakers.

A few quick notes:

• Yesterday I told you that Remy Cofield left the Palestra in a Tom Brady-like protective boot. He was not on the floor for the pre-game warmups tonight and didn’t see any action.
• Cam Lewis, who didn’t play last night, saw 4 minutes tonight.
• Mike Kach did not play.
• Penn got to the free throw line 20 more times than it did last night, going 22-26.
• Harrison Gaines had 5 assists in 12 minutes with only one turnover. For the game, Penn had 18 assists and 12 turnovers.

In-game updates can be found after the jump.

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Final: Brown 66, Penn 61

In-game updates can be found after the jump.

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FINAL: Penn 70, Princeton 65

In-game updates can be found after the jump.

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