Penn (3-1) closed out its season-opening 4-game tournament with an 84-77 win over Iowa State Saturday night in Las Vegas, earning third place in the consolation game of the Las Vegas Invitational Tournament.
Penn's only loss in the tournament came Thanksgiving night at the hands of tournament champion and nationally No. 2 ranked Illinois. In that game, Penn led for nearly three-quarters of the contest and fell just short of pulling of a major upset.
Saturday night's concluding game against Iowa State was a tight matchup. Ugonna Onyekwe led the Quakers with 22 points, followed closely by Koko Archibong with 21. The two juniors were named to the All-Tournament team. Jeff Schiffner scored Penn's first five points, and ended the game with 16 points, along with Andrew Toole.
The first half featured a slew of turnovers by both teams. The Cyclones outrebounded Penn by a two-to-one margin in the game -- and 21-9 in the first half. Iowa State used their edge on the boards to open a seven point lead, 28-21, three-quarters of the way through the first half. But with 83 seconds to go in the half, Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy got called for a technical which led to two Quaker free throws by Toole. Tim Begley scored on Penn's ensuing possession to bring Penn to within one. After two Iowa State free throws, Begley hit for three to tie the game at 32 with 34 seconds to go in the half. The Cyclones hit a shot with the clock showing zero to take a 34-32 lead into halftime.
Archibong opened the second half with a bucket to tie the game, but Iowa State answered back with a three. With four minutes gone in the half, Toole nailed two back-to-back three-pointers to give Penn the lead for good. Those were two of eight three-pointers Penn knocked down in a 52-point second half performance.
The Cyclones made a run with just over three minutes remaining, going on a 6-2 run to cut the Quaker lead to seven at 74-67, but they couldn't get closer. Onyekwe nailed a three, and the Quakers hit on 5 of 7 free throws to open a nine point lead with just under a minute remaining. Penn shot 76 percent from the field in the second half, after hitting just 40 percent in the first half.
The win over Iowa State, on top of Friday's 77-60 victory over Eastern Illinois and Monday's season-opening defeat of Georgia Tech, gave Penn third place in the eight team round robin tournament. Illinois, the nation's No. 2 ranked team -- and Penn's only loss, on Thanksgiving night -- won the tourney. Southern Illinois lost to Illinois in the title game and finished second.
Next for Penn: The Quakers play their season home opener at the Palestra on Wednesday against University City rival Drexel.
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