Palestra

Part of the original exterior design of the University of Pennsylvania's venerable Palestra are vertical bands of rusticated limestone that offset the building's brick facade. The stonework, obviously intended to be ornamental, can look like a ladder of sorts, with exaggerated joints between the stones, just deep enough to stick a shoe in. Since this is Philadelphia, if it looks like a ladder, it will be used as a ladder. Getting into sports events and concerts, or just into a gym to play ball, is a fine Philly tradition.

The basketball game between the University of Massachusetts and Rutgers University will be completed on March 2 at the Palestra, the Atlantic Ten Conference announced yesterday. The game will resume at the point of interruption - halftime - two days after the regular season ends and two days before the A-10 tournament is scheduled to begin. "Both schools were adamant that they wanted the game decided on the court and nowhere else," said A-10 commissioner Linda Bruno. "And the tournament is at the Palestra, so traveling would be of an inconvenience to no one, and everyone's OK with it. "Everyone understands (the protest)

Appropriately enough, it's at the Palestra. Ten years and two days after Lower Merion (starring Kobe Bryant) and Chester slugged it out in an overtime classic, the District 1 teams will go at it again in another PIAA Class AAAA semifinal at the famed Penn arena. The game - a rematch of last year's state final, this year's District 1 final, and of a December regular-season clash - is set for tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. After Lower Merion (26-6) and Chester (25-7) advanced Saturday - the Aces with a 63-48 win over Lancaster McCaskey and the Clippers with a 97-89 victory over William Allen - the PIAA contacted Villanova, in hopes of securing the Pavilion.

A local cable television station crew, which beamed back Bensalem's thrilling 65-63 victory over Plymouth-Whitemarsh in a PIAA District 1 Class AAAA quarterfinal contest played Friday at William Tennent, rushed onto the floor along with the joyous Owls fans when the final buzzer sounded. "We're going to the Palestra," shouted senior Bensalem center Ed Tharp into the hand-held camera. "We're going to the Palestra. " It may not be Disney World, but the lure of the Palestra is still very much a part of area scholastic basketball.

It's the second month of the scholastic basketball season. Do you know where some important playoffs will be held? John Koskinen, Joe Parisi and Bob Ruoff have no idea, and they're feeling flustered. More than three months after promising to provide an answer, University of Pennsylvania officials still have not decided whether the Public League, Catholic League and District 1 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association will be able to use the Palestra for playoffs.

You had to be there. No nostalgic reminiscence can recapture the flavor of Big Five basketball - the round-robin basketball tournament in which La Salle, Penn, St. Joseph's, Temple and Villanova played each other in a city series that mattered to each at least as much as their standing in their respective conferences. Most of the games were played in Penn's venerable Palestra - still a great milieu for basketball, despite the advent of the modern state-of-the-art arena. From 1955 to 1991, Big Five games packed the Palestra stands with multitudes of roaring zealots who made the rafters rattle.

Athletic officials from La Salle, Penn and St. Joseph's agreed yesterday to hold further talks in what appeared to be an eleventh-hour attempt to avert a further breakup of the Big 5. Bob Mullen, the La Salle athletic director, acknowledged at a meeting of the officials, held yesterday at Penn, that his school was considering an offer from Spectacor Inc. to move its home basketball games from the Palestra to the Civic Center, which is managed by...

The Palestra scoreboard said there was little to choose between Villanova and St. Joseph's at the conclusion of the first game of the Big 5's 40th season. St. Joe's was a 60-57 winner, but to those without allegiance or those willing to take a step back, it was more about playing and competing than just about winning and losing. The cold, hard facts said that the Hawks won partly because their four bench players accounted for 41 minutes, 12 shots and six points while 'Nova's two subs played just 12 minutes, took two shots and did not score.

As time flies by, so do the Palestra doubleheaders. And tonight, for the last time during the regular season, that shrine of hoopdom by the Schuylkill will be host to the feast of college basketball feasts, a Big Five doubleheader. There'll be one more Palestra doubleheader this Saturday, but it's not a pure Big Five doubleheader, what with Drexel capping off that night's action. (Also, the Temple-St. Joseph's game on March 2 likely will be followed by La Salle against a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponent in the first round of the that conference's postseason tournament.

Tonight, Marianne Stanley walks onto the court of the Palestra for her first home game as coach of the Penn women's basketball team. "There's always a special feeling for me in that building," Stanley said yesterday. For Stanley, who grew up in Upper Darby, the Palestra holds all of the typical Big 5 memories, plus some more personal ones. Stanley won a Catholic League title on the Palestra floor for Archbishop Prendergast, then was a two- time All-America for Immaculata as the Macs won two AIAW national championships.

Part of the original exterior design of the University of Pennsylvania's venerable Palestra are vertical bands of rusticated limestone that offset the building's brick facade. The stonework, obviously intended to be ornamental, can look like a ladder of sorts, with exaggerated joints between the stones, just deep enough to stick a shoe in. Since this is Philadelphia, if it looks like a ladder, it will be used as a ladder. Getting into sports events and concerts, or just into a gym to play ball, is a fine Philly tradition.

For the first time since 1994, Penn was playing a second postseason game. For the first postseason ever, the Quakers were playing for a second time at home. In a building that felt like mid-July, the Quakers couldn't figure out a way to extend their season once more. They lost, 63-53, to Butler in the College Basketball Invitational Monday night at the Palestra, after trailing by two with 61/2 minutes to go. Butler, which plays at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse ( Hoosiers )

College Basketball Invitational quarterfinal, 8 p.m. Monday, Palestra. TV/Radio: HDNet; WXPN-FM (88.5) About Butler: The Bulldogs (21-14) advanced with a 75-58 win over Delaware. The two-time NCAA runners-up are in postseason play for the 14th time in 16 years. . . . They are playing at the Palestra for the first time, and have not played in Philadelphia since a win over La Salle in 1994. . . . Butler has won 20 games for the seventh consecutive season, matching its own Horizon League mark.

PENN PLAYED at home in Wednesday's first round of the CBI tournament. The Quakers (20-10) will also be walking to the Palestra for their next game, Monday night against Butler (21-14), the two-time defending NCAA runner-up. The university had to come up with the money to be the host site - reportedly, about $35,000 for the first game and $45,000 for the second. Athletic director Steve Bilsky thought it was worth the investment so he sought out help from private sources. And they came through big-time.

S O MUCH for the notion that middle children don't always succeed. Tom Stewart, a 6-3, 190-pound senior at St. Joseph's Prep, is No. 3 among five siblings and, yes, his older brothers, Pat ('09, starter) and James ('11, sixth man), now regular students at Loyola (Md.), enjoyed a larger basketball profile. But guess what folks. Pat and James never were part of a championship team for the Hawks and Tom will be able to one-up them forever. Central to his tale, more than likely, will be how much he enjoyed it, along with how his personal scenario unfolded.

AROUND THE CITY PLAYING FOR BANNER FIRST Penn will play for an Ivy League championship tomorrow at Princeton. In the Ivy, co-champions are considered champions. If the Quakers win, they will then play Harvard on Saturday at a neutral site for the Ivy's automatic NCAA bid. After crushing Yale at the Palestra, 68-47, Penn (19-11, 11-2 Ivy) needs a win tomorrow to tie Harvard (26-4, 12-2 Ivy). Penn coach Jerome Allen said: "It was the best 20 minutes of team defense we played all year long.

Penn took a giant step down its improbable path toward a first Ivy League championship in five years with a 68-47 rout of Yale at the Palestra on Saturday. If Penn wins at archrival Princeton on Tuesday, it will force a one-game playoff with Harvard next weekend for the conference's automatic NCAA tournament bid. The Crimson won at Cornell, 67-63, to remain a half-game ahead of Penn in the standings. If Penn (19-11, 11-2 Ivy) loses at Princeton, Harvard (26-4, 12-2) will earn the NCAA bid. The Ivy League office said Saturday night that it expects to announce by Monday afternoon details about where and when a playoff would take place.

Penn is a step closer to a potential one-game playoff for the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. With Zack Rosen scoring 11 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, Penn pulled away from Brown late for a 54-43 victory before 2,834 at the Palestra. Thanks to Princeton's 64-57 home victory over Yale and Harvard's 77-70 overtime defeat of Columbia in New York, Penn (18-11, 10-2 Ivy League) and Harvard are the only two teams left in contention for the Ivy championship.

ARCHBISHOP CARROLL point guard Meghan Creighton knocked down three of four free throws in overtime to lead the Patriots over Archbishop Wood, 40-38, in the Catholic League girls' championship game last night at the Palestra. Seven of eight from the stripe on the night, Creighton's lone miss came with 4.8 seconds left in overtime. It was just enough time for Vikings guard Jackie Pierson to get off a last-second heave that clanked off the front of the rim, giving Carroll its third league title in 4 years.