Quakers' offense resurges after lull

Three halves, 80 points.

That was the Penn men's basketball team's offensive output against Delaware on Thursday and in the first half versus Lafayette.

The Quakers scored only 50 points in a six-point victory over Delaware, shooting just 16-for-37 from the field and turning the ball over 17 times.

Last night's first half was not much better.

A cold-shooting Quakers team only made 4-of-16 shots -- only 25 percent -- from three-point range in the first half last night, hitting only 12-for-27 from the floor, overall. The Quakers also handed it over 10 times in the first session.

But that was in the first 20 minutes.

In the second half against the Leopards, the Quakers exploded for 19 points in the first five minutes, 38 seconds. They finished with 43 in the second 20-minute period, taking as much as a 15 -point edge while scoring 37 in the first fifteen minutes before being held without a field goal in the 5:06 of the half.

"At halftime we wanted to try and run a little bit so they couldn't set up their matchup [zone]," Penn guard Andrew Toole said. "We went on a nice little run there. [Penn guard Jeff] Schiffner hit a big three, guys started hitting shots, and we just kept gaining confidence from that."

The Quakers' defense anchored their early second half 19-5 run, forcing the Leopards into three turnovers in their first four second half possessions, leading to two Penn layups. The second, Toole's driving layup while he was fouled by Lafayette's Mike Kuberka, ignited an otherwise low-key crowd and gave the Red and Blue a six-point lead.

In all, the Quakers scored 14 points off of nine second-half Leopards turnovers, while handing the ball over only twice.

Penn threw the ball away 10 times in the first half.

"That's something we addressed at halftime," Schiffner said. "We've been working on trying to make better decisions with the ball.

"In the second half we did a pretty good job of attacking that zone without turning the ball over."

The Quakers shot 46.7 percent in the second stanza -- only marginally better than in the first half -- but Penn nabbed five offensive rebounds leading to six second-chance points for Penn in the second 20 minutes.

Offensive rebounds are "one of the things you give up in a zone," Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "It became a jumping contest at times, and we lost that contest."

In addition to the offensive boards, Penn doubled Lafayette's points in the paint in the second half, as the Red and Blue hit everything from layups to mid-range jumpers in scoring 16 points.

For the Quakers, who do not play again until a Big 5 contest against St. Joseph's at the Palestra on Saturday, the second half was a good chance to get back to playing solid basketball after a rough 60 minutes of hoops.

Schiffner, however, thinks the Quakers still need to do some work with their offensive game to limit the number of miscues.

"I think we did a pretty good job of not turning the ball over, he said. "But I still think we need to work on it."

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