ITHACA, N.Y. — TJ Power scored an Ivy Madness-record 44 points and Cam Thrower hit five clutch points in overtime, lifting Pennsylvania to an 88-84 victory over Yale to win the Ivy League championship Sunday.
Thrower’s 3-pointer with two minutes left in overtime gave the Quakers an 82-78 lead. After Yale answered with a 3, Thrower rebounded his own miss in the paint and followed up in traffic for an 84-81 lead. Power added two free throws for a five-point lead with 17 seconds left.
The win sends Penn (18-11) to the NCAA tournament for the 25th time. First-year Quakers coach Fran McCaffery, a Penn alum, is taking his fifth program to the tournament.
Power hit two 3-pointers in the final seven seconds of regulation and Penn forced overtime at 75-all. Penn had trailed since a 3-pointer by Yale’s Devon Arlington made it 61-58 with nine minutes left in the second half.
Power, who played at Duke and Virginia earlier in his career, made 14 of 26 shots overall, 7 of 14 3-pointers and 9 of 9 free throws. He grabbed 14 rebounds. Thrower scored 19 points and was Penn’s only other player in double digits.
The 44-point outburst was the second-most in conference tournament final over the last 30 seasons, after Central Arkansas’ Camren Hunter this season scored 49 points in an ASUN championship final loss. Forty-four points is also the most in a double-double in a conference tournament final in Division I history.
Trevor Mullin scored 22 points and Isaac Celiscar had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Yale (24-6). Nick Townsend and Casey Simmons also scored 17 each.
Yale led 19-16 then ran off six consecutive points to go ahead 25-16 with about 8½ minutes left in the first half. Power led a Penn rally with 12 of his 23 first-half points and the Quakers were up 41-39 at halftime.
The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.
