Bizarre twists turn into loss for Penn at Princeton

PRINCETON. N.J. - Penn-Princeton was never supposed to be about empty gyms, apathetic fans and games with no meaning. For 2 decades, it was Penn. Or it was Princeton. Then, out of nowhere, it was the Cornell trifecta. And the annual Ivy League match race was over before it began.

There were tiny "crowds" at Jadwin Gym and the Palestra, six-win seasons for each proud program. You wondered when or if order would be restored.

Penn-Princeton finally meant something again last night at Jadwin. And the game lived up to the moment, surpassed it, actually.

Penn never led in regulation. Princeton looked like it would never make a shot in overtime. Penn could not have played the final 80 seconds of regulation any better or the final 20 seconds of overtime much worse.

It was a game the Quakers had stolen and then gave back before the theft had been recorded.

When the deed was done, Penn point guard Zack Rosen was trying to re-create the final sequence in his mind and was not really able to. It went down so fast, going from strange to bizarre to that didn't happen, all within seconds.

When you add it all up, Princeton won the game in overtime, 62-59. It is the adding that is complicated. The Quakers trailed by 11 with 2 minutes to go in the first half, closed to within a point early in the second half, trailed by 11 again with 4 1/2 minutes left and, after three of the most beautiful set plays for three-pointers you will ever see, tied the game on a brilliant misdirection, cross-court pass to Tyler Bernardini in the dying seconds of regulation. He squared, fired and buried it, tying the score, 56-56.

Penn assistant Mike Martin drew up the final play.

"I just gave him the board and said, 'I trust you to get us a shot,' " Penn coach Jerome Allen said. "It was an unbelievable play he drew up."

Reserve Zack Gordon threw a pass from in front of his bench across the court to Bernardini.

"You try to remember the good things, but it's pretty tough, especially in a game like that, we gave that thing away, we wrapped that thing for 'em," said Bernardini, who got a couple of shots blocked early, but blocked that out and kept firing. He finished with a game-high 19 points.