Penn’s last-ditch effort at a miraculous Ivy League championship is over.The Quakers (19-11) ran out of gas in a 62-52 defeat last night to Princeton. The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak and gave the Ancient Eight title to Harvard. If Penn had won, it would have forced a one-game playoff for the championship. Instead, Harvard earns its first NCAA tournament berth since 1946.Senior point guard Zack Rosen paced Penn with 19 points, but the Quakers could not overcome a shaky start after trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half. Rosen also struggled with his shot at times, finishing just 8-for-24 from the field and Penn shot 37.5 percent as a team.La Salle, St. Joe’s advance in the A-10 Saint Joseph’s and La Salle need to run the table and win the A-10 tournament for any chance at an NCAA tournament berth. Both schools kept that dream alive last night with first-round victories.No. 5 Saint Joseph’s earned a 80-64 victory over Charlotte at Hagan Arena. Carl Jones led the way with 23 points. The Hawks (20-12) advance to face St. Bonaventure.La Salle (21-11), the tourney’s seventh seed, scored a 80-72 win over No. 10 Richmond and get Saint Louis in Friday’s third quarterfinal.Temple (24-6) is the No. 1 seed in the tournament — for the second time in the last four years — and received one of four first-round byes. Fran Dunphy was named A-10 Coach of the Year.
