Penn too much for Engineers

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- It was the classic case of a more athletic team overpowering the weaker foe. Too much Koko Archibong, too much Tim Begley, too much Penn -- the Quakers' superior talent and athleticism at every position on the court led Penn to a 74-58 obliteration of Lehigh.

"It's never fun to lose a game, but a lot of it is about what they don't let you do," Lehigh coach Sal Mentesana said. "It's very hard to gameplan against Penn. I take my hat off to them."

While Penn has historically struggled from the field at Lehigh's Stabler Arena -- in the Quakers last trip to Bethlehem, Pa. on Jan. 15 2000, the Red and Blue shot an unimpressive 37 percent from the floor, including 3-of-12 from long range -- Tim Begley paid little attention to past performances. The freshman shooting guard burst out of the gates to sink all five of his shots in the first half, including four from three-point territory.

"It was my first time up here, I didn't have a clue [about Penn's past shooting woes at Stabler]," Begley said. "We've been struggling lately shooting the ball, so it was good to get one or two early and build off that."

Begley's quick start would not be indicative of the team's initial ten minutes as a whole, though. Despite the obvious disparity in talent between the two squads, Lehigh stayed within striking distance of the Quakers.

Stifled by early turnovers and two fouls on forward Ugonna Onyekwe in the first five minutes of the game, Lehigh pulled the game to within 13-10 on a jumper by Lehigh's high-point scorer, Matt Logie with 11:08 left in the first half.

Lehigh would later pull to within two on Dayne Mickelson's break-away layup -- leaving Penn with a 19-17 advantage with 7:44 remaining in the first half.

The Engineers would not get any closer.

Greatly outmatched by Quakers' forward, Koko Archibong, Lehigh used several different big men and a variety of zones to defend Penn's 6-foot-8 frontliner.

None of these strategies worked.

After receiving Ivy League player of the week honors last week, Archibong quickly legitimized that distinction by scoring a game-high 23 points, including a near-perfect 8-for-10 from the field.

Yet when when Archibong and Ugonna Onyekwe were off the floor at the same time during several periods of the game due to foul trouble, the Quakers' offense -- anchored by Adam Chubb and Jan Fikiel -- hardly missed a beat.

"We tried to take advantage of the four fouls, but Chubb is like a sixth starter," Mentesana said. "[Charlie] Copp and [David] Klatsky usually go unmentioned, but both played strong games. All of [Penn's] guys are really smart."

After playing only nine minutes in Sunday's bout with Temple, Charlie Copp -- replacing injured point guard Andrew Toole in the starting lineup -- directed the offense for 22 minutes against Lehigh, dropping seven points and two assists. Klatsky also played 22 minutes against Lehigh tallying three points.

"I'd rather have some of our verterans in there -- Ugonna and Koko are juniors -- but those guys did a good job," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said.

After a four game stint on the bench, Toole may to tonight and play a limited role against Florida International. Toole's playing time should dramatically increase in the Ivy League opener on Friday at Dartmouth.

"He'll be a new piece to our puzzle," Dunphy said. "We've played four games without him, and I don't really feel like playing any more without him.

"We'll see how that goes. We have a tough game Monday night, but after that I hope that we open our season up strong."

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