Men's Basketball: Rosen, Quakers snap Tigers' Palestra streak

PHILADELPHIA – In three years with the Penn men’s basketball team, Zack Rosen had never defeated Princeton in front of his home fans. On Monday night, he made sure that he and the other seniors would not be Penn’s first players to graduate without that experience. The star point guard led a stellar offensive performance by the Quakers, (11-9 overall, 3-0 Ivy League), who dropped the Tigers (10-9, 1-2) 82-67 to remain undefeated in conference play.

With his team leading by eight points and less than three minutes to play, Rosen took the ball near midcourt with the shot clock expiring. As three other Quakers spread the floor, the senior dribbled the ball with his stronger left hand on a pick-and-roll, blew past senior guard Doug Davis and junior center Brendan Connolly to sink a layup through contact at the basket. Rosen made the free throw for his 28th and final point of the day, giving the hosts a 70-59 lead and icing the game.

70-59 was one point away from the final score when the two rivals met at The Palestra 11 months ago. That time, it was Princeton’s seniors who exorcised the proverbial demons, making 14 of their final 17 shots to clinch an Ivy League championship.

Rosen and the Quakers earned their own memorable victory in much the same way: shooting the lights out. Penn hit 10 of its 13 field goal attempts and went 7-for-10 from three-point range in the first half, netting 40 points in the first 20 minutes. By the time students showered the court with red and blue ribbons after the final horn, the hosts had scored 82 points on just 61 possessions.

“Penn dictated things on offense,” head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 said. “We really had no response or answer for Zack Rosen, who was terrific tonight.”

Penn jumped out to an early 11-2 lead behind stellar play from Rosen, including a pull-up three-pointer off of a pick-and-roll, a pull-up jumper over 6’8” senior forward Patrick Saunders and an easy assist to Henry Brooks off of another high screen in the early minutes. Rosen patiently waited to attack mismatches on the perimeter and consistently penetrated the lane, delivering a well-timed pass past a collapsing defense or rippling the net himself. Tyler Bernardini added three triples early on, propelling the Quakers to a 34-18 lead after 14 minutes.

The Tigers ended the period with a 14-6 run, as Davis’s buzzer-beating jumper closed the lead to single digits at halftime. Davis and Connolly each scored 11 points on six shots apiece in the opening frame, with the center maneuvering past Penn defenders in the post for three fierce dunks. Connolly finished the game with 15 points, leading an offensive attack that was good enough to win the game.

“I was very pleased with Brendan Connolly tonight,” Henderson said. “I think you saw a little bit tonight of what we see in practice every day.”

Speedy guard Miles Cartwright scored four of his 10 points immediately after halftime, extending the lead to double digits, but the Tigers were within striking distance for most of the period. Junior forward Ian Hummer was quiet in the first half – largely because of a 1-for-7 performance at the free throw line – but made up for it in the second, dropping 18 points on only nine shots.

Princeton changed its defensive approach in the second half, using more zone and doubling Rosen more aggressively on ballscreens, but the favorite for Ivy League Player of the Year struck with a drive or a long trey seemingly every time his team’s lead was threatened.

“I think his understanding of temp is special,” Henderson said of Rosen. “Not just for this game, but as an Ivy League basketball player, he’s a good one.”

With nine minutes to play and the Tigers down 57-52, Davis drove through a double team and took a wide open jumper, hoping to cut the lead to one possession for the first time since the opening minutes. But the ball rattled out of the rim and into the Quakers’ hands, eventually resulting in a Steve Rennard three-pointer. Princeton never again trailed by less than six points.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Penn grabbed 13 offensive rebounds out of 28 missed shots, while the Tigers managed to retain only four of their 24 misses.

At 3-0 in league play, Penn is now undoubtedly the top challenger to No. 23 Harvard for the conference championship. But Rosen knows that the Quakers have a long way to go to end their own title drought and send the seniors out on top.

“We were 3-0 last year, sitting at this same [press conference] table, and then we were 3-4,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Tigers’ hopes for a second straight championship are all but dead after three games.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’ll need some help,” Henderson said.

Editors' note: This article has been updated to account for the fact that Tyler Bernardini is a fifth-year senior who played in Penn's home victory over Princeton in 2007.