Bowman rallies Penn past Tigers

TOWSON, Md. -- It took almost every bit of a poised stretch run, but Penn managed to overcome its own lethargy and Towson State's unheralded frontcourt to scrape out its first win of the season last night, 67-61. The Quakers (1-2) rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit behind Ira Bowman and an inspired Tim Krug, and played their best defense of the season in holding the Tigers (2-2) to a single basket for more than nine minutes down the stretch. "It's a real important win," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "We were right there in the first two games. Everything is a learning experience but this certainly is a big one for us to be down 10 in the second half, and all of sudden do almost everything to perfection over the last nine or 10 minutes." The Tigers, ignited by the sharpshooting Stevie Thomas, opened up their largest lead of the game at 43-33 with an 11-4 run to start the second half. Thomas, Towson State's 240-pound power forward who matched his career-high with 21 points, surprised the Quakers with his long-range touch. "Our scouting report didn't say he could shoot three-pointers," Dunphy said. "We saw the films. He was making 17 and 18 footers. He just wasn't making 20 footers." Penn, however, would answer with its own fireworks. Bowman, who scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, and Nat Graham found their own shooting touch. Each chipped in a trifecta and a layup to bring the Quakers to within two at 45-43. Then Krug, who scored only two points in nine first-half minutes after an abysmal 1-of-12 shooting performance against Saint Louis, broke out of his slump in timely fashion with a pair of jumpers and a lay-up. And after Bowman cut through the heart of the Tigers' defense and converted a three-point play, Jamie Lyren snuck along the baseline for a layup, giving Penn a 54-53 lead it would never relinquish. "We all responded and I think that's something that we had to have coming down the stretch," Bowman said. "I think Bill Guthrie, Tim Krug, all the big people who were in the game came up with some big rebounds. "The defense stepped up. I think our post players responded. During a timeout, we got in each others' faces and let them know we couldn't let [Thomas] keep scoring. I thin Tim personally stepped up and accepted the challenge." Surprisingly, it was the Tigers' highly-touted veteran backcourt of Scooter Alexander (3-of-13 from the field) and Ralph Blalock (3 turnovers) who struggled, particularly in crunch time. "I thought our guards did a real good job defensively against their combination of guards," Dunphy said. "I think our second half defense is what won the game for us. We came pressing out on their guards and at least challenging every shot." And the Quakers, who had been battered around in the paint all evening by Thomas and Tigers' center Matt Dellinger (13 points), finally found some pleasure in their pain as they picked up 11 of their final 13 points from the charity stripe to close out the game. "When the chips were down, they responded. They just decided they were going to pick it up defensively," Dunphy said. The Quakers needed to be almost perfect after a poor first-half in which Penn shot only 37 percent and committed 12 turnovers. Only the ability of Ira Bowman to individually break down the Towson State defense kept Penn within striking distance. "I was shocked we were only down by six [at halftime]," Dunphy said. "We should have been down by 20. We needed to get more disciplined. We needed to make better decisions." In the end, however, the Quakers managed to come out on the right side of the only decision the mattered.

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