Penn Is Mightier Than Princeton This Time Around, 73-48

Sometimes shock treatment is the best therapy. Coach Fran Dunphy used it to get Pennsylvania into the NCAA tournament for the first time in four years.

Geoff Owens scored 14 points and sparked the decisive run to start the second half as Penn defeated Princeton, 73-48, Tuesday night at Princeton, N.J., to win the Ivy League championship.

In beating Princeton, 20-7 overall and 11-3 in the Ivy League, for the first time in seven games and ending the Tigers’ string of three consecutive Ivy titles and 26 league victories in a row at home, Penn (21-5, 13-1) avenged an earlier home loss in which it blew a 27-point lead.

That loss left the Quakers one game behind Princeton, but Penn won its last seven Ivy games while Princeton lost at Yale and Harvard to give Penn a one-game lead it never relinquished.

“We kind of redeemed ourselves in a way,” said junior guard Michael Jordan, who had 13 points and four assists while holding Princeton’s Brian Earl to seven points.

“I was thinking about throwing that tape away,” Dunphy said of Princeton’s 50-49 victory over Penn at the Palestra on Feb. 9. “But we needed therapy, we needed to talk about it. We talked about how if we all did one thing better we could come out ahead.”

Penn’s starters combined for 68 points as Jed Ryan scored 15 and Paul Romanczuk and Matt Langel had 13 apiece.

Chris Young led Princeton with 17 points. Seniors Gabe Lewullis and Earl, the team’s leading scorers, were held to a combined 17 as Princeton shot only 35%.

Valparaiso 73, Oral Roberts 69--Valparaiso, led by Zoran Viskovic’s 21 points, won its fifth consecutive Mid-Continent Conference title at Moline, Ill.

The Crusaders (23-8), who made it to the Sweet 16 a year ago, get the MCC’s automatic NCCA tournament berth again.

The Golden Eagles (17-11) were ahead most of the first half and held a 32-31 lead at halftime.

But Valparaiso went ahead for good right after the break. Baskets by Viskovic and Lubos Barton gave the Crusaders a 35-32 lead. Their biggest advantage would be 56-45 with 10:02 left.

Chad Wilkerson made a three-point shot with 2:38 remaining to bring Oral Roberts within 63-61.

But he fouled out shortly after that and the Eagles got no closer.

Detroit 72, Butler 65--Rashad Phillips scored 18 points at Chicago in leading Detroit to a berth in the NCAA tournament as the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament champion.

Top-seeded Detroit (24-5), winner of seven in a row, held Butler to 17% field-goal shooting in the first half and 32% for the game, the Bulldogs’ poorest shooting of the season.

Arkansas State 65, Western Kentucky 48--Chico Fletcher, showing why he was the Sun Belt Conference player of the year, scored 21 points and handed out eight assists to lead Arkansas State to the conference tournament title.

Arkansas State (18-11) earned its first berth in the NCAA tournament.

Western Kentucky (13-16) fell behind midway through the second half, unable to cope with the tough Indian defense.

The Hilltoppers, who shot 48% in the first half, shot only 37% in the second half and were outrebounded, 32-21.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

Mid-American--John Whorton scored 14 points and Kent relied on its stifling defense to beat Ohio, 68-57, in a semifinal game at Toledo, Ohio. The second-seeded Golden Flashes (22-6) advance to the school’s first MAC title game since 1989. History won’t be on Kent’s side. In 47 years as a MAC member, Kent has never won a division, conference or tournament title. Shaun Stonerook led Ohio (18-10) with 17 points. . . . Damon Frierson scored 13 of Miami of Ohio’s last 21 points, including five in overtime as Miami (22-6) held off Bowling Green, 60-56. Bowling Green ends its season 18-10.

Western Athletic--Nathan Cooper had 24 points as Brigham Young (12-15) may have ended Texas Christian’s NCAA tournament hopes with a 90-74 victory in the first round at Las Vegas. Cooper had eight of his 24 points in a 16-1 run early in the game that gave BYU a 16-5 advantage, and the Cougars never trailed the rest of the way. TCU is 19-10. . . . Chris Herren led Fresno State (21-10) on a late surge in an 80-50 first-round win over Colorado State (17-10). Herren scored seven of his 22 points during an 11-0 second-half run that broke open a close game. . . . Robert Johnson scored 26 points as Rice (18-9) rallied for a 64-61 victory over San Jose State (12-16). Rice, trailing, 48-45, with a little more than nine minutes left, went on an 11-0 run to build a 56-48 lead with 5:47 remaining.

WOMEN

Big East--While the Big East Conference may be deeper, more talented and better than ever, Connecticut is still the best by far.

Connecticut, ranked sixth, won its sixth consecutive league tournament and earned its 11th consecutive NCAA tournament berth by beating No. 8 Notre Dame, 96-75, at Piscataway, N.J., behind a 25-point performance by conference player of the year Svetlana Abrosimova.

It was the eighth tournament championship for the Huskies (27-4) in 14 years under Coach Geno Auriemma. This one might have been decided on Monday night when Notre Dame (25-4) lost starting point guard Niele Ivey to a knee injury.

Mid-Continent--Jessica Rhoten scored 20 points and Oral Roberts overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to defeat Youngstown State, 57-52, and win the championship at Moline, Ill.

It was the Golden Eagles’ (17-12) first NCAA tournament bid in the team’s history. Youngstown State (20-9) was ahead, 30-28, at halftime.

Monday’s Late Game

Gonzaga 91, St. Mary’s 66--The top-shooting three-point team in the West Coast Conference, Gonzaga connected from beyond the arc 18 times, including eight by Matt Santangelo, and overwhelmed Santa Clara in the men’s tournament championship game at Santa Clara, sending Gonzaga to the NCAA tournament for only the second time.