Jesse Spector: A pair of free buckets

As students waited for season tickets on the Line this fall, the Penn men's and women's basketball teams engaged in a free-throw shooting competition.

Having seen Fran Dunphy's squad shoot 62 percent at the line last season, the smart money seemed to be on the women.

Instead, the men, including Dunphy himself, drained shot after shot on the road to victory.

That preseason performance was surprising not only in light of last year's Penn free-throw shooting, but past years, as well.

In their back-to-back Ivy League championship seasons of 1998-99 and 1999-2000, the Quakers shot 66 and 64 percent from the line, a weakness that could be exploited down the stretch in close games.

The Quakers played a very close game last night, earning an 81-76 victory in overtime at La Salle to wrap up an undefeated Big 5 campaign.

In the extra session, the Red and Blue hit all 10 of their free throws. All 10 came in the last minute of play. All 10 were, quite obviously, crucial.

With 44.7 seconds left in overtime and Penn up by two, Andrew Toole knocked down a pair of foul shots.

With 24.5 and 17.8 ticks remaining, Jeff Schiffner did the same, extending Penn's lead from two to four points on both occasions.

Charlie Copp gave Penn a six-point lead with 11.7 seconds left, and Toole closed out the game with another pair of free throws in the final second after a Rasual Butler three-pointer had cut Penn's margin to 79-76.

With his 5-for-5 performance at the line for the night, Toole moved to 90.2 percent for the season. If he can keep up that pace, the junior guard will be the second player in Penn history to make 90 percent or more of his foul shots in a season. Chris Elzey went 47-for-50, a 94 percent clip in 1984-85, while Matt Maloney came close in 1993-94, making 61 of his 68 attempts for a percentage of 89.7.

With Toole and Koko Archibong, who has improved his free throw percentage from 65 last year to 79 this year, the Quakers have converted 71 percent of their free throw attempts this season, good for third in the Ivy League after ranking dead last in that category last season.

"They came up big at the foul line late at the game, which was really nice to see," Dunphy said. "I think overall, we're a pretty good foul-shooting team, and hopefully Ugonna can get himself straightened out as well."

Indeed, Penn's improvement at the foul line has not been universal. Ugonna Onyekwe, who shot 58 percent from the line his freshman year and 59 percent last year, continues to hover just below 60 percent. He is the only Penn starter with a free throw percentage under 72 percent for the season.

Onyekwe went 1-for-2 at the line last night, and was surprisingly not fouled by La Salle with the game on the line. Against St. Joseph's on Saturday at the Palestra, Onyekwe nearly gave the game to the Cityliners by missing six consecutive free throws in the final 45 seconds of play. Penn managed to hang on for a 62-60 victory.

La Salle did try to send Onyekwe to the foul line in overtime, but the officials saw other fouls away from the junior forward.

"It's a good play [to foul Onyekwe]," Dunphy said. "You want to try to get him on there. He's been struggling there. But one referee saw something else sooner, which was beneficial for us."

The solution for some teams might be to take the weakest foul shooter out of the game, but that will not work for the Quakers, as Onyekwe is the Red and Blue's leading scorer, as well as their top rebounder and shot-blocker.

Last night, he scored four points in overtime and swatted a pass away from La Salle's Julian Blanks to set up Copp's game-icing free throws.

The Quakers have now played four overtime games, which ties a team record set in 1962-63. If they get involved in any more nail-biters, they will once again need to display their improved foul shooting, just as they did last night.

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