M. Hoops loses its way against Explorers

LaSalle beat the Quakers for the first time since Dunphy's second season. When Penn and La Salle consummated the revived Big 5 last night by playing in the first game between any of the City Series rivals, neither team wanted the dubious distinction of being the first to lose. No matter how much they might have wished otherwise, it was the Quakers (1-3, 0-1 Big 5) who had to accept that moniker, as they fell, 83-76, last night at Tom Gola Arena. "That was the motivation all week," La Salle guard Donnie Carr said. "We just didn't want to be the first to lose a Big 5 game. We didn't want to be remembered that way." The Explorers (5-1, 1-0) were led by the red-hot three-point shooting of its two leading scorers, Carr and and sophomore Rasual Butler, who each finished with 25 points apiece. La Salle's victory, their first over Penn since 1990, was also buoyed by clutch free-throw shooting by the entire team down the stretch. After exchanging misses with the Quakers in the first minute, La Salle got off to a blazing start from beyond the arc, opening up a 9-2 lead. The Explorers never looked back. The inside dominance of Penn center Geoff Owens kept the early deficit within reason. Not to be outdone by the La Salle sharp shooters, Owens scored 10 points in the first seven minutes of the game. "Geoff had a very good first half," Dunphy said. "We were dumping the ball down inside to him, but they weren't going to let him do that, so they tried to take that away." However, with only Owens clicking on offense, the Explorers built a sizeable lead over the Quakers, leading by as many as nine points within the first ten minutes. "I thought we weren't as prepared early as we needed to be," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "It was critical for us to keep the score close in the first half." As La Salle's lead grew, it was the play of the other Penn seniors that brought the Quakers back. Down 26-17 midway through the first half, the Quakers exploded for a 9-2 run over the next three minutes of play. Penn senior co-captain Matt Langel hit his first trey of the game to get the mini-spurt underway. Two baskets by senior guard Michael Jordan proceeded to pull the Quakers to within two points. But it was as close as the Quakers would come. The Explorers responded with a 15-6 run in the waning minutes of the first half to go up by 11 points at halftime. Thomas and sophomore guard Julian Blanks were instrumental to the La Salle counter-assault. "They made some very tough shots," Dunphy said. "Blanks did a terrific job. He's really improved as a basketball player, and I was really impressed with their team." The Explorers were able to match every big shot that the Red and Blue connected on in the first half. They were also able to get to the free throw line and connect on a regular basis -- La Salle went 7-of-8 from the line, while the Quakers hit two of three freebies. Despite giving up a height advantage, the Explorers outrebounded the Quakers 17-16 in the first half, including seven offensive rebounds. Thomas led the Explorers with eight first-half rebounds en route to a game-high 12. "We outrebounded them and I thought it was the key to the game," Morris said. "We could not get dominated on the boards. That's the best we've done all year because we went up against a big, athletic team." The Quakers' unimpressive outside shooting, which was evident this weekend, continued to plague them in the first half, as they connected on only 4-of-12 from beyond the arc. Jordan and Langel, both of whom struggled in their previous outings against Penn State, began to show signs of life in the second half. "Jordan struggled a bit in the first few games, but when you have a shooter like that, with the confidence he has, he's going to keep shooting," Morris said. Still trailing by 11 points with eight minutes remaining in the game, Langel drained back-to-back three-pointers to pull the Quakers to within five points in the blink of an eye. "I thought we did a really good job defensively until the last few minutes, when it was raining threes," Morris said. It was Carr who put out the Quakers' fire, hitting free throws and jumpers to build the lead back up to 12. The Quakers lacked a powerful inside presence in the second half. Foul trouble and missed shots for Koko Archibong and Ugonna Onyekwe made it tough, and Owens' fourth foul with ten minutes left made it even tougher. "In the second half, they really did a good job and made it difficult for the guards to get me the ball," Owens said. "However, it opened up the game for some of our shooters." The Quakers managed to hang tough in the final minutes. Jordan, who led the Quakers with 22 points, Langel, who finished with 17 points, and junior guard Lamar Plummer each hit three-pointers to pull the Quakers to within four with 27 seconds remaining. Despite scoring 14 points in the last three minutes of the game, the Quakers still lost by a solid seven points. "Penn is a team that's going to be terrific in February and they'll be a better team than they were last year," Morris said.

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