Penn Gives the Ivy a Three-Way Tie

Now, the Ivy League has a postseason tournament.

Andrew Toole scored 19 points and Ugonna Onyekwe scored 16, and Pennsylvania defeated Princeton, 64-48, Tuesday night at Philadelphia to finish in a three-way tie with the Tigers and Yale for first place in the Ivy League.

Princeton (16-10, 11-3) plays Yale (19-9, 11-3) at The Palestra on Thursday. The winner faces Penn (24-6, 11-3) at Lafayette on Saturday for an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.

“It’s great for the league,” Penn Coach Fran Dunphy said. “It’s terrific for Yale and Princeton to have another opportunity. I’m anxious to see the game on Thursday. We live for another day.”

Penn won the three-team tiebreaker because of its 3-1 record against Yale and Princeton.

It was the first time in the conference’s 46-year history that three teams finished in a tie for first. Either Penn or Princeton has won at least a piece of the league title 14 consecutive seasons and 31 of the last 33.

Ahmed El-Nokali scored 18 and Will Venable added 10 for Princeton.

“It’s definitely a bad loss, but we’ll be back,” El-Nokali said.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

Horizon--Cedrick Banks made a turnaround jump shot with four seconds left in overtime, giving Illinois Chicago a 76-75 victory against Loyola of Chicago in the championship game of the Horizon tournament at Cleveland.

The Flames (20-13) earned Horizon’s automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. They’ll be making their second tournament appearance.

David Bailey, who scored 35 points for Loyola (17-13), made two free throws with 13.1 seconds left to give the Ramblers a 75-74 lead.

Mid-Continent--Stalin Ortiz scored 20 points and Valparaiso (25-7) defeated Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis, 88-55, at Fort Wayne, Ind., in the final.

Valparaiso earned its sixth trip to the NCAA tournament.

Valparaiso seized control early, making three consecutive three-point baskets in less than a minute to break open a 7-6 game.

The Crusaders had 14 three-point baskets to tie the tournament record.

Charles Price led all scorers with 25 points and seven rebounds for Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis.

Sun Belt--Chris Marcus scored 24 points, including 11 in a row in the final four minutes, to lead No. 18 Western Kentucky (28-3) over Louisiana Lafayette, 76-70, in the final at New Orleans.

The victory gives Western Kentucky an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament and stretches the Hilltoppers’ winning streak to 18 games.

Marcus, a senior who sat out two months after breaking an ankle, had 11 rebounds and six blocks in 26 minutes.

Derek Robinson had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Western Kentucky.