GREAT GAMES IN PENN HISTORY: JAN. 27, 1970

In an intense Big 5 game, Steve Bilsky and the Quakers outlasted Fran Dunphy's Explorers Jan. 28, 1970 --"Quakers collect Palestra rent tonight" read the rollout in the Penn cheering section, and it couldn't have been more true. The payoff came in the form of a Big Five title. By dumping La Salle, 76-67, at the Palestra last night, completing a perfect 4-0 City Series slate, Penn laid claim to sole possession of the city laurels for the first time ever. The Quakers had tied for the title in 1962-63. The win upped the Red and Blue's log to a gaudy 15-1, their best getaway since 1921-22's equally fast start. The victory was Penn's eighth straight, equaling the Quakers' winning skein near the end of last season. But it was the city championship that Dick Harter liked most of all. "That's what we wanted -- the Big Five title," the Penn coach relayed joyfully in the winning locker room. "We've waited a long while for this." The Quakers got what they desired by stopping La Salle's two big guns, Ken Durrett and Fran Dunphy. Steve Bilsky and Dave Wohl did the job on Dunphy, holding the Explorers co-captain to 11 points on a three-for-11 shooting night. And Jim Wolf reached back for his best game ever, according to Harter, pulling down 17 rebounds (13 in the first half) and adding nine tallies of his own to offset Durrett's 23-point, 13-rebound performance. "Durrett's the toughest offensively," Wolf offered. "When he's fresh, it's almost impossible to stop him. In the second half I think I wore him down." Durrett garnered 12 of the Explorers first 18 points, and had 18 by intermission, but Wolf put the clamps on La Salle's leading scorer in the second stanza. "Wolf overplayed Durrett and denied the ball to him," Harter explained. "Jimmy just played the hell out of him." While Wolf was checking Durrett and Bilsky was holding off Dunphy in the second half, John Koller and Al Cotler came off the bench to do the job on offense. With Wohl and Corky Calhoun both saddled with three personal fouls, the two subs took up the slack when the Quakers needed it most. Cotler, hitting five of eight from the floor, pumped in a career high 12 points, and Koller bucketed two key field goals. "John Koller and Al Cotler's performances may have been the key," Harter commented. "Cotler gave us a great game. So did Koller." Koller and Cotler started the second half after filling in at the end of the first 20 minutes, and even though Bob Morse suffered through a poor three-for-11 shooting night, the Red and Blue attack didn't let up. Durrett erased the Quakers' slim 41-40 halftime edge with a tap-in at 19:08 of the second period. He didn't get another field goal until a meaningless layup with 1:37 to go when the outcome had already been decided. Cotler popped in a 15-footer, and Bilsky added a pair of free throws. Bobby Fields and Greg Cannon each put in field goals for La Salle around a jumper by Koller to cut the Red and Blue lead to 47-46. Then Cotler took over. The 6-5 sophomore scored nine of Penn's next 11 points by himself, and his jumper with 10:21 remaining gave the Quakers an eight-point spread, 58-50. La Salle, plagued by foul trouble throughout the game -- three players fouled out and three others had four personals at the end -- still managed to sneak within five of Penn on a Fran Dunphy jump shot with 7:01 remaining to close the gap to 63-58. But La Salle went scoreless for the next 4:50, and by the time Fields sank a foul shot with 2:09 to go, the Quakers enjoyed a 69-58 advantage. The margin reached 13 points, 72-59, on the last of three charity tosses by Calhoun with 1:48 left. That La Salle closed the gap to 76-67 at the end didn't matter. When the final buzzer sounded, Carl Robbins grabbed the game ball and Jim Murphy and Ken Cohen headed for the two baskets. Each came away with one of the nets. The trio of seniors saw only a few seconds of action, but they were as joyful as the starters. Cohen said he would take his net home and frame it. Murphy decided to wear his souvenir -- "What else do you do with it?" he asked. Robbins shoved the game ball into a locker and padlocked it. Wohl, sitting quietly in the corner of the locker room, noted, "This is so sweet. Our fans were something else, too. Every time we started to get behind they started cheering. We started playing better for some reason."

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