The No. 1 seed in the Ivy League tournament, Yale appeared NCAA tournament-bound on Sunday with a 73-69 lead over No. 3 seed Penn and 12 seconds left in the conference championship game.
But Penn's TJ Power rallied Penn to overtime with two 3s in the final 6.7 seconds of regulation. From there, Penn went on to an 88-84 win in the title game and secured the league's only projectedNCAA tournamentbid, eliminating Yale.
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Power's 3-pointer with 6.7 seconds left cut Yale's lead to 73-72. Penn then fouled, and Yale hit both free throws to extend its lead to 75-72. Power then took the inbounds pass under the Penn basket, drove up court and pulled up from 3 from the right wing.
His game-tying shot dropped with 1 second remaining.
Yale's ensuing 3/4-court heave had a chance, but bounced off the back of the rim, and the game went to the extra session, where Penn prevailed.
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Penn had the ball with an 84-81 lead and 34.6 seconds remaining in overtime. Yale gave itself a chance to tie the game when junior guard Trevor Mullin stole the Penn inbounds pass under the Penn basket. Yale then called a timeout to set up a good look from 3 from the left wing for Mullin.
But Mullin's shot went in and out, and Power came up with the rebound to set up Penn free throws to extend Penn's lead to 86-81. Yale then hit a 3 to cut the Penn lead to 86-84 with 11.2 seconds remaining. But Penn hit its ensuing free throws to ice the 4-point win.
Huge game for former Duke, Virginia forward
Power finished the game with 44 points, shooting 14 of 26 from the field and 7 of 14 from 3. The junior All-Ivy selection who previously played off the bench for Duke and Virginia added 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 block.
Mullin led the Yale effort with 22 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds, but his season ends in disappointment.
The Quakers knocked off No. 2 seed Harvard in the tournament semifinals, then No. 1 Yale in Sunday's championship game.
History for Penn coach Fran McCaffery
With the win, Penn head coach Fran McCaffery leads his alma mater to the NCAA tournament in his first year as head coach. The former Iowa coach has now led five different teams to the NCAA tournament.
He joins Rick Pitino (six teams), Steve Alford (five), Lon Kruger (five) and Tubby Smith (five) as the only men's coaches to do so.