Penn defeats Quinnipiac in CBI opener

PENN HADN'T played a postseason game in 5 years. The last time it hosted one was 1978, in an NCAA preliminary round against St. Bonaventure. And the last time the Quakers advanced was 1994, when Fran Dunphy's team with current coach Jerome Allen knocked off Nebraska in the four-letter tournament before losing to a third-seeded Florida bunch would reach the Final Four.

Last night at the Palestra a Quaker squad that had somehow managed to win seven straight down the stretch, including a one-pointer at Harvard to almost force an Ivy League playoff, got a chance to extend the season.

And shouldn't Zack Rosen, who's probably the best Penn player to never win an Ivy championship, get a chance to do his thing in this setting at least one more time?

Welcome to the CBI, one of the other three-letter tourneys, which provided the stage for the fourth and last game in Philly that didn't have anything to do with President Obama's bracket sheet.

In Penn's first non-NCAA postseason appearance since the 1981 NIT, the Quakers (20-12) went out and earned the right to continue playing. They moved on with a 74-63 win over Quinnipiac (18-14), a young team dealing with some injury issues of its own.

So next up is defending national runner-up Butler on Monday at the Palestra. The time of the game will be determined today. Butler advanced with a 75-58 win over Delaware last night.

"We're not in the dance, but to give you coach-speak, we've still got our shoes on," said Rosen, who threw up at halftime but finished with 16 points and nine assists in 38 minutes. "We're treating this like it's our tournament. And we're going to go after it as best we can.

"Most of the guys kind of thought it was it [after losing the regular-season finale at Princeton 8 days earlier]. We came up short of our goal. But we got this opportunity."

Late in the first half he broke the program's season record for assists, at 163 and counting.

"I didn't even know," he said. "I guess that's cool."

So was Penn's second postseason win in 32 years.

Sophomore Miles Cartwright had 23 points on 7-for-11 shooting (5-for-6 from the arc), a career-high nine rebounds and six assists. "I just want to stay ready," he said. "Every team's going to try and take away Zack. When the ball came to me, I wanted to make sure I had my feet set."

Rob Belcore added 14 points, including the final five.

It seemed as if every Penn game near the end of the season went down to the finish. Not this one. With a little over 12 minutes left it was a 14-point spread, following an 11-0 Quaker (20-12) run. The margin would grow to 19, just under the 8-minute mark. The Bobcats (18-14) then scored nine straight to get it back to 10 some three minutes later.

It would basically get no closer.

The Bobcats had four double-digit scorers, including freshman Evan Conti with 14 in 32 minutes. He averages 1.4. Points, not playing time.

"I've been overly impressed with [our] grit," said Allen. "They just find ways to make a play, to a man. I think that's what good teams are made of.

"We fell short of our ultimate goal after putting ourself in position to win it. But the last 40 minutes of the regular season is not indicative of who we are and where we're headed."

See you in the second round.